Blithe

Singer/songwriter Emil Odling launched Blithe in 1990 alongside guitarist Mattias Norlander, bassist Nils Forsberg, and drummer Johan Nilsson inside the modest college community of Umea, Sweden. Whereas numerous Swedish alternative bands, including The Cardigans and Komeda—the latter also featuring Norlander—draw from a playful 1960s aesthetic, Blithe instead follows the path of American independent guitar acts such as The Pixies, Sebadoh, and Dinosaur Jr. The group gradually built recognition throughout Sweden via domestic album releases in 1992 and 1994. The latter effort, Head is Mighty, appeared just as fellow Swedish artists began securing deals with U.S. indie imprints; North Carolina’s Alias label then signed the band and issued a domestic version of Head is Mighty in 1996. That record never connected with indie-rock consumers, and Verse Chorus Verse, the follow-up issued in 1997, met an identical outcome.