Polaroid Memories, Urban Cone

Urban Cone’s first album, Our Youth, was something that popped into my Spotify feed right when I got Spotify for the first time in 2013. Back then I listened to their songs “Urban Photograph” and “We Should Go To France,” along with “Let Us Stay Young,” which is a song that they did in collaboration with Lucas Nord in 2013. Because of my great memories of them, I was pretty excited to see them come out with a new album in late 2015.

From Stockholm, Sweden, Urban Cone is a young band. It was formed in 2010 and has five members: Rasmus Flyckt, Magnus Folkö, Tim Formgren, Emil Gustafsson, and Jacob William Sjöberg. The band was created when the five were still in high school, and they produced their early music themselves. The Our Youth EP was recorded in Flykt’s living room.

In their new album Polaroid Memories, Urban Cone sticks fast to the sound created in their first full-length album, Our Youth. The band manages the signature electric dance sound with airy and dreamy vocals and a smooth background. Polaroid Memories starts off an unusual intro to the first song, “Weekends,” which made me not sure what to expect, but when Flykt starts singing, it was clear that their sound is very much the same as it was in 2013. It then moves into “New York,” which they introduced as a single also in 2013, a very catchy track with a nice electronic melody and a sense of optimism.

My favorite tracks on this album are “We Are Skeletons” and “Never Gonna See You Again” because they stand out the most. The intro to “We Are Skeletons” is catchy and leads you right into the song, and “Never Gonna See You Again” has an unusual rhythm and a focus on a single instrument that work together to wrap up the album quite nicely. Another interesting song is “Sadness Disease,” which tackles the theme of society’s beauty standards and the impossibility of living up to them. Urban Cone also collaborated with Tove Lo in “Come Back To Me,” which adds another element to the album in her slightly more present voice.

The entire album has a dreamy quality, and is definitely something that you can listen to easily. Personally, I found their lyrics annoyingly repetitive at times, but there is certainly potential in their sound itself. All around, I think this album is something that you can listen to without noticing anything in particular but nonetheless enjoy the entire time. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next with their music.

Photos from Urban Cone Facebook page

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  • Susanna Herrmann

    Susanna grew up mostly in Bloomington, Indiana, amidst the corn. Majoring in Philosophy and German in the college, she obviously doesn't know what she wants to do in real life, but at least she has hobbies. She enjoys soccer, art, hiking, and running.

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About the author

Susanna Herrmann

Susanna grew up mostly in Bloomington, Indiana, amidst the corn. Majoring in Philosophy and German in the college, she obviously doesn't know what she wants to do in real life, but at least she has hobbies. She enjoys soccer, art, hiking, and running.

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