Swedish band Little Dragon go large at Sydney Opera House

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This was published 9 years ago

Swedish band Little Dragon go large at Sydney Opera House

By Michael Koziol

Good food, good wine and great audiences – there are plenty of incentives for Swedish electronic outfit Little Dragon's fourth visit to Australia. But the ultimate lure was the opportunity to make their debut appearance at the Sydney Opera House.

"It's like super crazy surreal exciting," says Yukimi Nagano, the band's 32-year-old singer. "I certainly see it as a big deal, because it's a really special building. You've heard so much about it and you see it in magazines and stuff, but then you're like, 'Oh shit, we're going to have a show there!'"

Refined: Little Dragon: Erik Boden, Yukimi Nagano, Fredrik Wallin and Hakan Wirenstrand.

Refined: Little Dragon: Erik Boden, Yukimi Nagano, Fredrik Wallin and Hakan Wirenstrand.

The Gothenburg foursome first came to Australia in 2010 in support of arena-fillers Gorillaz, with whom they later collaborated in the studio. They toured with the Parklife festival in 2011 and played two shows in Sydney and Melbourne as recently as August. This time they will appear at the Laneway festival, which tours the country, starting on January 31 in Brisbane.

Nagano says local audiences have been "really receptive" since the band's early side shows in venues a fraction of the size of the Opera House's concert hall. "To see people sing along to the new record or feel like it's packed with people who really want to see us – when you're so far away from home – is kind of special."

That new record, Nabuma Rubberband, was the result of a year's sabbatical from what had been a near-permanent touring schedule for the band's members: Nagano on vocals, drummer Erik Bodin, Fredrik Kallgren Wallin on bass and Hakan Wirenstrand behind the keyboard.

Nagano, Bodin and Wallin met at high school in Gothenburg in 1996, when they would play rhythm and blues after hours. They connected in their early years over passionate conversations about music.

"Erik was a real hip-hop head, always had headphones on, always deep into A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul," Nagano says. "Fred was more ... 'Oh, I'm taking off of school to go to a film festival' and smoked a pipe, and had a beret. But very cool. I think he was in his intellectual mode."

Nagano had a musical upbringing at the hands of her "hippie" Japanese and Swedish-American parents. The Gothenburg music scene is small but fertile – a good place for young musicians, she says, because it is relatively affordable. Still, it took seven years from leaving high school for Little Dragon to release their debut single, Twice, which later appeared on several soundtracks including that of television show, Grey's Anatomy.

Four albums have followed, including an eponymous debut, 2009's Machine Dreams and Ritual Union in 2011. Nagano is reluctant to enter the game of categorising Little Dragon's music, though the words synth-pop, R&B, trip-hop and soul are commonly batted about. With four albums under their belt, the band is comfortable in its own sound, but in earlier days, labels were a touchy subject.

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"We don't really think in genres when we write," Nagano says. "We're inspired by so many different types of music that it's just making music – and the labels are for the people who want to put labels."

Nabuma was released in May and was regarded by critics as a more consistent and mature album, slower and more subtle than its three predecessors. Clash magazine said it was "altogether more assured" than Ritual Union, while the Observer said it oozed "fewer beats and more feeling".

Nagano calls it a "refined" album, with more of a pop vibe than previous efforts. It is the type of record that grows on people, she says. "Some music sticks with you, it's a process – you can discover new things with it the more you listen to it. I feel like it might be one of those type of albums."

The long writing process for Nabuma allowed the band to reconnect with its roots, she says. It was an opportunity to recharge the batteries and, most importantly, get everyone together in one place.

"I remember when we were writing Ritual Union, me and Fred were on tour, Erik was at home mixing the record – we were just full speed and never had time to reflect, and just kept going," she says. "It just got really intense and for us to survive – quitting our day jobs and surviving only on music – it took so much touring that it almost broke us."

That said, Nagano is looking forward to being on the road again for Laneway, alongside acts such as St Vincent, Flight Facilities and Royal Blood. Little Dragon's stage presence is acclaimed – Clash called their performances "weapons-grade ace".

The UK Guardian recently placed Little Dragon on a list of "five bands we'd like to see reach 500 million people", an accolade Nagano says is "super exciting". But no matter what success the group ultimately finds, at heart they will still be silly schoolkids jamming in a Gothenburg rumpus room.

"Our job is one of these amazing jobs that keeps you feeling like a kid because basically you're just playing," Nagano says. "It's just the most fun thing ever."

Little Dragon play the Laneway Festival on February 1 and the Opera House on February 5.

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