With a whopping 29 members, the Swedish bubblegum-pop collective I'm From Barcelona seems almost cult-like — sort of like a grown-up version of an elementary-school choir. Dispensed amid soaring three-chord pop melodies and a chorus of happy voices, the joyful subject matter almost invariably touches upon the mundane, making oversleeping, tree houses and stamp collecting seem like pursuits worthy of giddy adulation.
I'm From Barcelona formed last year, when frontman Emanuel Lundgren decided he wanted to spend his summer vacation forming a band with all of his friends --even the ones who weren't musicians. With a name referencing Fawlty Towers, the cheerful group somehow stuffs glockenspiel, saxophone, clarinet, ukulele, kazoo, tuba and flute into its grandiose, orchestral songs.
The utterly infectious "We're From Barcelona" states the collective's mission: "I'm gonna sing a song with all of my friends / And we're I'm From Barcelona / Love is a feeling that we don't understand / But we're gonna give it to you." I'm From Barcelona may not be from Barcelona, but its members sing with their arms wide open, embracing the entire world in the process.
Listen to yesterday's 'Song of the Day.'
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