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★★★⯪☆
In 2023, 7ebra brought us their alt-pop debut album, ‘Bird Hour’, a collection of quirky musings, guitar riffs and understated arpeggios. Fast-forward three years, and the Swedish twin sisters return with their sophomore album, ‘How to Land a Plane’, promising a more extroverted sound centered on navigating the challenges of young adulthood in today’s world. The question is whether this move to a more expansive indie-pop sound will strip them of the strange intimacy that made their debut so intriguing.
Hailing from Malmö, Sweden, Inez and Ella Johansson initially pursued separate musical paths before Inez asked her sister to help with her first solo show as part of her 7ebra project. Realising they worked well together, they developed their own unique sound with the help of producer Tore Johansson, best known for his work with The Cardigans. The new album has been created in partnership with fellow Malmö producer, Jens Lindgård, on writing and producing duties.
The striking aspect of 7ebra is the way the twin sisters’ voices harmonise, unlike a conventional lead singer and backing vocalist. Both sisters take on singing responsibilities, with Inez playing guitar and Ella handling keyboards and drum machine. Yet while the vocal delivery bears the hallmarks of their debut, the sound immediately feels heavier and more layered. Whereas ‘Bird Hour’ was built around gentle guitar rhythms, understated keyboards and soft, mournful vocal delivery, this is an album that often places driving electric guitar at its centre.
Album opener ‘Magical Thinking’, acts as the perfect link between the two albums. Sparse synths introduce the track before a drumbeat creates a lo-fi backdrop for the vocals. When the distorted guitars kick in, they act as a bridge to the light, airy vocals. The song explores the feeling of being in control of things over which you have no control, acting as a metaphor for life in your twenties and setting the album’s theme. The paradox is that a song about anxiety and lack of control becomes a breezy slice of alt-pop.
The beauty of 7ebra is that they are a band of strange contradictions, writing about psychological observations in a quirky, almost deadpan way. The strangeness is emphasised by focussing on the mundane and making it a central tenet of their song. ‘Magical Thinking’ references doing errands, and other tracks talk about ‘Dinner and a Movie’, and ‘I Have To Buy Stuff’. What elevates these songs is the way the sisters juxtapose hushed vocal delivery about everyday activities with a grungy yet cheerful sound, catchy synth hooks, and sharp lyrical observations. Both tracks feature changes in pace and are punctuated with memorable synth riffs that break the driving, Nirvana-esque, grungy, distorted guitar.
The economical use of words allows the guitars and synths to take centre stage while emphasising their deadpan delivery. There are tracks where guitars and synths dance together with such perfect synergy that the music takes centre stage, as is the case on one of the standout songs, '15 With Me’. This is a track where the synths build to a crescendo that evokes Ray Manzarek of The Doors. Similarly, ‘Bored Like A Dog’ has a haunting musical interlude that perfectly complements the subject matter.
The sparse use of words works well when matched against the intriguing musical arrangements. 7ebra don’t deploy long narrative songwriting like Bob Dylan or detailed introspective lyrics like Gracie Abrams. They are an impressionistic duo who use fragmented observations to convey a thought or a state of mind that hints at something bigger. They do this well on ‘Dinner and a Movie’, where the act of staying out and spending money you don’t have feeds into a deeper emotional state that touches on an existential crisis.
‘Lime Green Jello’ is a wonderful example of how 7ebra turn the mundane into a highly memorable song. Born from Inez working at a cemetery and having time to unhealthily overthink, “trying hard to have original thoughts” while she cleaned gravestones, this is a song that concludes that sometimes a person has nothing original to say. The monotonous vocal delivery contrasts with the haunting synths and the way the track adds layers of sound, from driving rhythmic guitar to vocal harmonies and those synth melodies.
The ability to make these observations with wit and addictive musical riffs bears some similarities to Wet Leg. This comparison is particularly evident on ‘Normal Song’, which talks about wanting to write a normal song while wanting “to cry in an open field.” While they don't have the same extroverted and provocative lyrical style as Wet Leg, their ability to let emotional sadness and the wry smile of a joke occupy the same space is very reminiscent of the English indie band.
‘How to Land a Plane’ is more expansive and extroverted than ‘Bird Hour’, but not in a brash alt-pop sense. The vocals are soft, understated and dreamy while maintaining the signature sound from their debut album. The lyrics are still fragmented shards of thoughts and quirky imagery. The extroversion comes from the development of their layered sound. Distorted guitar features more prominently on some tracks, such as ‘Night Smog’, and at times the mix does make it difficult to understand the lyrics. However, this is an album which is as much about the soundscape as the vocals. The clever use of synth riffs and haunting instrumental interludes elevates the entire experience.
The album closes with a slice of bouncy alt-pop that showcases the controlled musical chaos that is 7ebra’s sound as distorted guitars duel with breezy synth hooks and sudden riffs while Inez’s dreamily sings “I’m done with being whatever.” And that, perhaps, is the core message on ‘How to Land a Plane’.
In their own understated, quirky way, 7ebra are delivering a rallying cry not to accept the way things are. It also acts as a metaphor for their own musical development on this album: they have further layered their sound without abandoning the intimacy and oddness that made ‘Bird Hour’ so intriguing. It works.
Andrew Butcher
Image: Dan Kendall
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