The first of two all-Swedish mixes, made in collaboration with Erik Svedäng.

1. “Pulling Our Weight” – The Radio Dept.
2. “Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward” – Jenny Wilson
3. “It Pays to Belong” – The Embassy
4. “No Comply” – Studio
5. “Dischoe” – Those Dancing Days
6. “The Opposite of Hallelujah” – Jens Lekman
7. “God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)” – El Perro Del Mar
8. “Åt Helvete Med Himlem” – Parken
9. “Animal” – Miike Snow
10. “Babylon” – The Tough Alliance
11. “Om Du Möter Varg” – Detektivbyrån
12. “Panda” – Dungen

Available for download from SoundCloud, and as a Spotify playlist.

Before I met my boyfriend, Erik, I knew next to nothing about Swedes. I knew that they speak a crazy language, thanks to The Muppet Show. I knew that they have good design sense, thanks to IKEA. And I knew that about half of them are hot blonde chicks, thanks to men who like to talk about hot blonde chicks.

But I didn’t know that a good portion of the bands I was already listening to are Swedish. El Perro Del Mar was a particular surprise. A Swedish band with a Spanish name that sings in English?? What??

Gothenburg, where we live now, is the home of most of the bands on this list. I’d hoped that when we moved here the same inspiration that infected these artists would find its way to me, too. But, of course, that’s not quite how it works. Being a rockstar also takes a bit of work, apparently.

While I later learned that The Swedish Chef is way off (and really pretty offensive), it is true that Swedish is a strange, but beautiful language. It consists of the twenty-five letters we all know and love, plus three more at the end: Å, Ä, Ö. And because the craziness just couldn’t stop there, two of those letters are also words.

This mix is named for the twenty-eighth, Ö, which sounds something like “uh,” and means “island.”

As for the good design and hot blondes: true and true. Gents, go buy your plane tickets.