The Cardigans Grow Into Adult-Sized Sweaters

You'd think after constantly being pegged for one hit song back in the '90s that the last thing The Cardigans would want to do is go back to that time. But today they're doing just that in more ways that one.

For one, going back to the '90s means going back to a time when the band had a fresh view on their career, things were easygoing, and it was reflected in the music. For Nina Persson, frontwoman and lyricist for the band, it also means it's a good time to love music again.

"I'm in this period now where when you release a record, within those tense few weeks of working with it, I just can't listen to music at all," says Persson. "Because I think it's bullshit or I get really threatened because it sounds better than what we're doing.

"So I try to stay away from it. Now it's a very exciting period 'cause I want new music all the time now. I'm listening to The Boy Least Likely To and Calla. I'm kind of having a revival of my '90s as I remember it."

So, now that you know what Persson's CD collection sounds like, you should know what The Cardigans' new album, Super Extra Gravity, sounds like, too.

SEG is shorter, lighter and punchier than 2004's alt.country-influenced masterpiece, Long Gone Before Daylight, but it still sounds tragic, sinister and beautifully dark. "And Then You Kissed Me Pt. 2" is a sequel to the song by the same name on LGBD.

"[The song] started out with something that Peter [Svensson] had come up with, a chord progression and a riff loosely based on 'And Then You Kissed Me 1,'" Persson says. "We just thought it was really exciting to use it as a before and after story. People perhaps wonder what happened to these people in the song and as a matter of fact we know that it got even worse."

The album — created by Svensson, Magnus Sveningsson, Lasse-Olof Johansson, Bengt Lagerberg and Persson in their hometown of Malmo, Sweden — has a spirited glow to it. Yet after listening to the band's sixth studio effort, one can't help but tell that it's a more grown-up glow. All in their early thirties, The Cardigans have become adults.

The band are now in a good place. SEG was certified gold for selling more that 30,000 copies in Sweden and the group are set to tour Europe next month. It's like the '90s Cardigans all over again, but better and more experienced.

"It's a nice experience as a band [right now] 'cause in the past we were sometimes bragging about how we are a band that never rehearses and that we're sort of crappy, but we make good music," Persson says bluntly. "So it's not a bad thing to be able to play well."