AMG Review of Sweet Bills

John Bush
All Music Guide

A Swedish artist who's given to the same match of irresistible songwriting and immaculate indie pop production as acts ranging from the Cardigans to Peter Bjorn and John, Kristoffer Ragnstam deserves to be in the same company. Sweet Bills, his debut album after a breakthrough EP, doesn't lack for great songs, all of them informed by Ragnstam's self-abasing wit, best heard on "Man Overboard" ("There is a man overboard, I think it's me"). Most of his songs are overlaid with a driving rhythm that puts the power into power pop, and his vocals don't have the soft-spoken feel of most indie pop, but fans of great contemporary pop/rock shouldn't worry -- the attention to detail and craft throughout each production is impressive. The first two songs, "Breakfast by the Mattress" and "Man Overboard," instantly catapult him into a category reached by few others in the pop underground, and if there's nothing more compelling after the first five minutes, nearly every song is worth hearing.