Differnet

A Swedish group formed at the dawn of the 2000s, Differnet initially operated as a duo consisting of Tomas Bodén, the principal architect and keyboard-focused arranger, alongside Peter Jackson—who shares no connection with the prominent New Zealand filmmaker—handling guitar, flute, and vocals. Their sonic territory lay in the intersection of understated indie rock and the electronic textures associated with Warp Records and parallel experimental techno imprints. Like numerous contemporaries, they bypassed traditional label deals at the outset, instead circulating material through self-produced CD-Rs and MP3 files hosted on their site www.differnet.tk.

Assisted by additional collaborators, the pair inaugurated their discography with the 2001 release Kabelsalat. Later the same year they issued We Are Difference, How Are You?, an assemblage of edited improvisations that incorporated Niclas Wiklund’s contributions on the Persian/Indian instrument known as the santoor. Summer 2002 brought Style Telegraphique, while a subsequent EP, Affections, appeared before year’s end; largely a Bodén solo project, it introduced vocals by Anna-Karin Brus, who soon joined as the trio’s third permanent member. Their first recording to feature all three musicians, In Advance of the Broken Sound, emerged in 2003.

Exposure increased when a track appeared on the Friendly People Making Noise compilation issued by the Swedish imprint Friendly Noise, paving the way for the full-length Come on and Bring Back the Brjokén Sounds of Yore on the same label late that year. The album compiled and surveyed the group’s independent output from the preceding two years, marking their initial foray into wider recognition beyond Sweden.