Their name is inspired by a line from a Human League song, they make girl-meets-boy pop songs, and they have a knack of producing infectious grooves-it’s no accident that Sweden’s Train to Spain were invited to play at Cold War Night Life‘s event, An Evening with the Swedish Synth, in 2014. As one of a new generation of poptronica acts coming from the Nordics, the duo of Helena Wigeborn and Jonas Rasmusson are great entertainers in a live setting and just as much fun in their studio guise.
Just in time for summer, they’ve revealed their debut album, What It’s All About (SubCulture Records). Eleven tracks of fine poptronica are assembled in this virtual package, drawing on favourites from their live show and previous teasers. The Train is inspired by the synthetic sounds of the 80s, and these can be heard in tracks like “Keep on Running” and “Blipblop” to great effect. Wigeborn’s vocals cover a lot of stylistic ground, even getting a little Opus III on the acid-infused “Remind Myself.”
This is a playful album, which comes with a sense of humour. Depeche Mode fans will love their favourite banana-waving, hand-clapping member being name-checked in the deadpan tribute track, “Martin, David and Fletch”:
We’ve been waiting for some time to hear What It’s All About, and the results are worth it. Train to Spain have produced the soundtrack to summer.
Available on [ot-link url=”http://subculturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/what-its-all-about”]Bandcamp [/ot-link] and [ot-link url=”https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/what-its-all-about/id989266718″]iTunes[/ot-link].