In 25 words (or so…):
The heavy-glam closer to MFMB’s new long-player, all sneer and bitter pomp, goose-stepping through the corridors of Goldman Sachs and right over the album’s burgeoning sense of hope. Like The Doors’ apocalyptic farewell to the 60s, ‘The End,’ via Michael Gira’s worst hangover.
In the artist’s own words:
“We were back and forth on whether to include this on the album. It doesn’t stick to the formula, it’s something else. Still very much MFMB, but perhaps more akin to our previous work. We decided to put it as the closer. The penultimate song on the album is a subtle piano ballad, which would have been a more obvious closer. Six-Figure Income is…some sort of opposite to that. It’s about capitalism, and it’s very angry.”
About Sugar
After a decade-long hiatus, this year cult 7-piece MFMB will announce their shock return to the scene with ‘Six-Figure Sum’, the closing track to their long-awaited album ‘Sugar’, arriving in March.
The followup to 2012’s critically-acclaimed ‘Colossus’, ‘Sugar’ revives the dark and driven alt-rock the Swedes made their name with -equal parts rigour and finesse, wracked with nervous tension. This time around, however, a democratic approach to the writing process was decided on, with each member contributing equally to the sound and feel of the record. The result is unmistakably the sound of MFMB, but reinvented for these tempestuous times.
The making of the album is a story in itself. “Sugar is seven years in the making, marking nine years since our last full-length release Colossus (2013). It has been a bumpy ride. The tours following Colossus took their toll, leaving us in a state of internal friction – infighting basically. Then when it finally came time to work on Sugar, when it was decided the process of composing songs should be a completely democratic one, tensions increased further. We were not always the best of friends. Priorities changed. Members quit, then joined again. It was never easy. But we feel you can hear it on the album, how every song is a result of differing opinions fighting it out until we landed. But in the end, it’s MFMB, but ringing purer than ever before.”
Opening up with the title track, ‘Sugar’ recalls the bold and blistering stylings of their early work. A song about “the weight of existence and the deceptive allure of taking the easy way out”, it’s an intense and propulsive opener and a warm-up for what is to come.
“This one just kind of fell into place, all by itself. It was very early in the process of making the new album, and we thought that maybe the whole thing would be this easy. Just let the songs finish themselves, it’s a cakewalk! We were very wrong. Sugar did however set the standard for the rest of the album.”
There’s also a focus on single ‘Harvest’. Unlike the rest of the album, it’s an ambient offering, meditating on the dark atmospheric energy that’s been growing in the world during our absence; channelled in particular through the apocalyptic guitar solo that finishes the song. “Harvest established the general air of gloom we wanted for the record as a whole.”
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MFMB has remained prolific throughout their hiatus, which includes Joakim Lindberg becoming one of the underground scene’s most in-demand producers, working with the likes of Hey Elbow, Spunsugar, This Is Head and many more.
MFMB are also notorious for their blistering live performances. The combination of dual drummers and two lead singers has given the band a distinctly raw and visceral sound.
MFMB are:
Joakim Lindberg (he/him) – guitars
Vic Narin (they/them) – vocals
Christine Björk (she/her) – vocals
Kristoffer Bäckström (he/him) – drums
Erik Nilsson (he/him) – drums
Sebastian Hedberg (he/him) – bass
