Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Envelopes have a refreshing, inventive and unrestrained brilliance: a poppy concoction of Belle & Sebastian’s quirky creativity with Blue Aeroplanes happy-smiley-summer guitar.
How Envelopes ever got to record in the first place is a minor miracle since they were scattered across Europe and only came together occasionally to rehearse, gig and part again. This may explain the ‘ready or not, here I come’ production which fits so well with the style of their songs.
It is The Law is short and funny. After some gentle melodic finger-picking gives way to a powerful jump-around guitar riff, Audrey’s crazy voice kicks in. ‘It Is The Law’ are the only words she sings on this tune and she sings them like she’s crawling, hungover, from her bed in a police cell having learned her lesson (or has she?) You can’t stop yourself from smiling.
Sister in Love makes you get up and dance. You can’t stop singing the catchy, catchy chorus. However, happy as it is, Henrik makes it clear that he does not trust this man one little bit and you can tell that he won't sleep at night until he's out of the picture.
The pick of the rest are Isabel and Leonard and the joyous Audrey In The Country. Audrey’s sexy Parisien accent means that she can sing ‘there are cows and bees in my street’ and make it sound sexy. That’s no mean feat. You’ll be singing these little ditties for weeks.
This album is quirky, calamitous and more than a little bit crazy, as are Envelopes. It is a marvellous melting pot of inspiring arrangements, confident songwriting and uplifting lyrics. It’s what a pop album should be: exciting, interesting, creative and fun.
They are already working on a new album. They’ve given up commuting and are living in a farmhouse in Yorkshire carrying out musical experiments on animals. I am not joking. Can you imagine what their next album will be like? I can’t wait. - thecritic.info
Envelopes are a Swedish-French quartet (sic.) living in a north Yorkshire village whose spin on pop is as unconventional as their choice of residence.
Combining lo-fi electro wth candy pop, Scando-folk, and the quirk and grandeur of Flaming Lips, their infectious debut album is a fun journey, full of spiky, catchy songs that careen all over the place but slot together perfectly. - The Independent
Discography
'I Don't Like It' 7" EP (Rex Records) (2004)
'It is the Law' 7" EP (Brille) (released May 2nd 2005)
'Demon' CD/LP (Brille) (released July 25th 2005)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Curiously for a band that formed over two years ago, Envelopes have, by the reckoning of lead singer/guitarist Henrik Orrling , only spent around 30 days rehearsing together. That isn’t a reflection on the band’s dedication to their singular and outre’ pop music, but a consequence of them (up until March of this year) living in four different cities across two different countries. Henrik and guitarist Fredrik are both residents of Uppsala, drummer Filip lives in Stockholm, Bass player Martin is from Malmo and vocalist and guitarist Audrey from Paris.
Henrik had some songs that he wanted to work on, but no band. Eventually he made the decision to contact various friends that he knew could do the job. They happened to live miles apart but it was not a problem as they gathered during the summer holidays at Henrik’s summer house at a remote and isolated corner of Sweden’s West Coast; according to Henrik “the town isn’t even on the map, there is nothing there but a cold flat sea”. They had fun that summer so decided to call themselves The Nicotines. Eurolines buses and Goodjet planes kept them together and they became experts in performing band camp, 2-3 days of intensive rehearsals, before each concert. The first fruits of these recordings were released shortly after when Rex Records issued the single ‘I Don’t Like It’. They reconvened sporadically at the summerhouse for recording sessions and finally assembled the debut album Demon over winter whilst deciding to change the name and become Envelopes. “We found it stimulating being apart, with the everyday routine gone we were only playing together when something great was going to happen”. Their music is clearly a result of this unrestrained recording. Envelopes manage to sound like some of your favourite bands whilst simultaneously sounding like nobody but themselves.
Their second single ‘It Is The Law’ is released as a limited edition 7” on May 2nd. It contains the track ‘Glue’ which was described by a Swedish Radio DJ as ‘like a ride on a twisted bicycle’ which kind of sums up their sound nicely. The album ‘Demon’ will follow on July 25th. The band are already working on the follow up to ‘Demon’ and have relocated to a tiny village in the North Yorkshire moors. “We wanted to live together in a comfortable, remote house to achieve the same kind of recording atmosphere as we’ve had before. We’re now socialising only with livestock and the only people we worry about disturbing are the horses. They stare at us when the drumming starts”. Envelopes have already wowed those lucky enough to catch their live appearances at the Benicassim festival and their shows in Paris. They made their UK live debut at this year’s In The City music conference in Manchester and recently began a series of regular appearances at their new local, York Fibbers. A full tour of the UK will be announced shortly.
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