The Cardigans

Released: March 24, 2003

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nina Persson

Producer: The Cardigans Per Sunding

For twenty-seven years I've been trying
To believe and confide in
Different people I've found
Some of them got closer than others
And some wouldn't even bother
And then you came around
I didn't really know what to call you
You didn't know me at all
But I was happy to explain
I never really knew how to move you
So I tried to intrude through
The little holes in your veins
And I saw you

But that's not an invitation
That's all I get
If this is communication
I disconnect
I've seen you, I know you
But I don't know
How to connect
So I disconnect

You always seem to know where to find me
And I'm still here behind you
In the corner of your eye
I'll never really learn how to love you
But I know that I love you
Through the hole in the sky
Where I see you

And that's not an invitation
That's all I get
If this is communication
I disconnect
I've seen you, I know you
But I don't know
How to connect
So I disconnect

Well this is an invitation
Its not a threat
If you want communication
That's what you get
I'm talking and talking
But I don't know
How to connect

And I hold a record for being patient
With your kind of hesitation
I need you, you want me
But I don't know
How to connect
So I disconnect
I disconnect

One of the most pleasing pop groups of the ‘90s, the Cardigans specialized in sugary confections that would grow annoying very quickly if they weren’t backed by solid musicianship and clever arrangements. The band’s 1995 breakout album, Life, reflected the Cardigans at their most saccharine – the sunny disposition of vocalist Nina Persson being the major argument in favor – and critics inserted the group into the space age pop revivalist camp. the Cardigans later proved that they were more difficult to pigeonhole, however.

Even the band’s origins showed that their later appearance was quite misleading; two heavy metal fanatics formed the group in October 1992 in Jonkoping, Sweden. Guitarist Peter Svensson met bassist Magnus Sveningsson in a hardcore group, though he had previously trained in music theory and jazz arranging. The two later grew tired of metal and decided to form a pop band with vocalist Nina Persson – an art-school friend who had never sung professionally – plus keyboard player Lars-Olof Johansson and drummer Bengt Lagerberg.

All five Cardigans moved into a small apartment in 1993 and began recording a demo tape that entered the hands of producer Tore Johansson later that year. He liked what he heard and invited the group to record at his Malmö studio. Signed to the dance-oriented Stockholm label, the Cardigans released Emmerdale in May 1994. The single “Rise & Shine” became a hit on Swedish radio soon after the release of the LP, and a readers poll in Sweden’s Slitz magazine voted Emmerdale the best album of 1994.

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