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Reviews / Said about "The Story Behind The Story"

Click this link to go to a Swedish pdf with reviews about The Story Behind The Story, both live and album!

Review in Sonic Magazine Sweden
THE CONFUSIONS
The Story Behind the Story
Massproduktion/Bonnier
Grade: 8/10

In the song "Remain", perhaps the most beautiful track on this album, the core sentence is "They say we're growing older now but I know, our dreams remain the same". It's a nice way of putting how love, or the entire life, could seem when you're no longer a kid. Maybe it's also a call for a raison d'être for the Sundsvall band The Confusions after their 15 years as a band.
The melody is a loop; hypnothically marching, so passionately restrained that you cannot be sure whether it moves backwards or forwards. Musically and singing wise the song seems to be a thoughtful masterpiece that Human League cut out from "Dare!" 1981, only not to confuse their fans.
There are sixteen other tracks on "The Story Behind the Story". On a any given album seventeen songs would be at least five songs too many, but this is not a regular album. If all albums were this thoroughly done, there would never have been a music business crisis. I naively claim this, fully aware of the fact that most bestselling albums include only one or two really good tracks.
Smashing bestsellers constitute the vital putty that creates our common references, but they are not guilty of the music business crisis - the lowest level of quality in the business are. And in this case the lowest level of quality is high because The Confusions are as far as they can get from spontaneous pranks on their seventh full-length album. They put together a melody that really works. From there they carefully add poetry and sound for eternity. Thanks to this, their six year old track "Pilot" recently got playlisted again on American radio. Thanks to this, their tunes carelessly dance out from a kaleidoscope, created of the most fascination components of pop music. At every listening new sensations arouse.

You'd might call it confusing. But if you want to hear how you in best possible way can combine the particularities of Kraftwerk, Niel Young and Joy Division, draped in an atmosphere that links a dry, Northern English year 1983 with a flourishing 1967 Californian sound, then this is the record for you.

MARTIN THEANDER
2008-03-11

Translated by Josefin Larson

Reviews / Said about the "5 am" album and the Ep trioligy

"Bang!" - Erik Süss - Arbetarbladet 4 out of 5
"Bang!" "... singer Mikael Andersson-Knut sounds really mean on "5 am"..."they play the kind of dirty rehearsal room indie rockthat glows so much that their hometown Sundsvall are likely
to burn down to the ground again. But out of this fire comes pop melodies that I would give up my right, no wait, left arm to be able to write.
The Confusions have never been this vital. Is "5 am" their ticket to all the big festivals this summer? I hope so.

"5 am" the best we've heard from The Confusions - Mona Hallen, Dagbladet
"The opening tracks "It's a miracle", "Imagination" and "Silver" are superb songs, these songs makes the record go for an instant knock out". "...Filled with excitement and electricity".

A rock record with grace - Björn Bostrand, Länstidningen 4 out of 5
"... even when the band is rocking they do it with class and the great melodies are always present. "Imagination", single "Artificial", "Window" and "Don't Let The World Catch You Crying" are pure schoolbook examples of a perfect mix between Liverpool pop and Bowie-rock."

"Simply a killer record" - Jonathan Strandlund, Nya Wermlands-Tidningen
"The opening number is fantastic. The rocker "It's A Miracle" punches you directly with distorted vocals and a brilliant sing along chorus." "Influences from The Beatles, Stones and Zeppelin flickers by in all the songs and the person that can't tap their hands and stomp their feet to these 10 outstanding songs have probably lost all their interest in music completely."

"One of many great bands right now" - Torbjörn Claesson, Piteå Tidningen 3 / 5
In the distorted "It's A Miracle" they create a desperate, nervy feeling that gets in under your skin. But this record also brings you classic rock songs, and in a song like "Silver" and in "How Do You Seep" the monotony of the indie-pop meets with perfect Beatles-pop."

Confusions clean out their references - Lisa Olaison, Sundsvalls Tidning 4 / 5
"This is a rock album from the start with "It's A Miracle" and "Imagination". The sound is more noisy than usual and that's just great."

"The Confusions - Imagination Ep (Massproduktion)
The title track is a catchy little rocker. The beat is driving and the vocals are just gruff on the chorus enough to give the tune a bit more extra power than you'd normally expect to hear from these guys. Nice stuff." By Avi Roig, www.itsatrap.com

Reviews - The Confusions, Trampoline album

Trampoline - The Confusions (Massproduktion) Album. Add these guys to the list of superb Swedish bands. They Borrow from the past (60s britpop, Bowie) without the self consciousness of their Anglo Saxon peers. 4 out of 5, by Rachel Gordon and Lisa Moore, The Evening Telegraph.

Just about as mouth-watering as pop gets, The Confusions have whipped up a tart, juicy morsel that you can feel melt in your mouth, burst open like summer's best seedless grapes. Although they're from Sweden, you can smell the classic, swirling, neon-like, brit pop influence with a skyscraping ceiling, a sunken bottom-end and a taffy-like elasticity inbetween that gives these songs their huge, sweeping sound. It's hard to say whether it's you that becomes the puddle or if you're the cannonball crashing into their oceanic sound. Take note that if you're even remotely interested in the work of The Cardigans or The Drowners, look no further. This is the perfect bliss for pop lovers. Reviewer: Tamara Turner, CD Baby.

powerpop brilliance
Trampoline is a masterful work of Alternative-pop-Rock.Chock full of compositional twists & turns. A fitting example of these Swedish Juggernauts. The pilot is simply stunning ! Reviewer: United Global Artists

Artist: The Confusions
CD: Trampoline
Home: Sundsvall, Sweden
Style: post New Wave Rock
Quote: "The Confusions will appeal to listeners who fondly recall music’s New Wave era, back when there was an abundance of quirky bands like this one."

By Dan MacIntosh
The Confusions is a rock band that sounds a lot like Australia’s The Church. Yet it also retains a distinctive brit pop feel. And while such analogies might merely add to the "confusion," so to speak, it’s still difficult to deny the obvious quality of the outfit's new Trampoline CD.
There is an underlying feeling of angst running through these songs which is nonetheless mixed with touches of hope. On "Tonight," for instance, the group sings hopefully: “Tonight we will be lovers, Tonight we will be best friends.” The sound here ranges from the ringing electric guitars that drive “Changing,” to the stuttering acoustic guitar work that underpins the title track. Keyboard sounds, on the other hand, are applied to “Don’t Shed No Tears,” whereas “Everybody” has a bit of a classical vibe to it.
This music is smart and also a tad distant -- in a Go-Betweens/David Bowie manner. Trampoline mixes adventurous rock instrumental touches with an overriding pop sheen to create a winning combination. It's a disc that will most likely appeal to listeners who fondly recall music’s New Wave era, back when there was an abundance of quirky bands like this one.

Reviews - The Confusions, Six-O-Seven album

Six-O-Seven (1998)
Reuniting with producer peter Svensson, the Confusions deliver their strongest record yet — with Six-O-Seven, frontman Mikael Andersson-Knut truly hits his stride as a songwriter, eliminating the more kitschy elements of his previous work to achieve a new consistency and depth. The thoughtful, assured sound of standouts "Time," "Blue" and "Underground" suggest the back-to-basics methodology of british bands like Ocean Colour Scene and Embrace, with a comparable sense of texture and nuance; what the Confusions do isn't terribly original, perhaps, but the conviction that drives Six-O-Seven is too rare for their music to pass unnoticed. Jason Ankeny www.allmusic.com

press: clipings on "Everyone's Invited"

MELODY MAKER:
"Magic ... stratospheres above Ocean Colour Scene, Northern Uproar, or anyone else who's forgotten what 'Mod' is short for."

RECORD COLLECTOR:
"Scandalously overlooked in the scramble for super-Scandos, this wondrous debut manages to combine the melodious psych-pop of The Beatles' Revolver with a refreshingly lo-fi jazz weirdness... Cornflake King is the catchiest song you'll hear in 1997."

SELECT:
"The 13th Floor Elevator-bubbling and Human League synthstyling drift along on a harmless whistle-worthy trip..."

FEEDBACK:
"... and the whole album is a real pleasure to listen to from start to finish - it's one of those albums that actually makes you feel happier after you have heard it."

BUZZ FACTORY:
"A truly loveable blend of psychedelic guitar-pop... they piss all over the too-twee by half Cardigans and the rather bland Wannadies"

Ep Magazine:
"The Confusions really know how to press your buttons!"

REVOLVER:
"A refreshing alternative to the british pop sound..."

The List:
"Top Tunes!"