Easy

Formed in Sweden during 1990, the group that would become Easy first operated as TV Pop Crisis, built around vocalist Johan Holmlund, guitarist Tommy Ericson, multi-instrumentalist Anders Peterson on guitar and keyboards, bassist and singer Rikard Jormin, and drummer Tommy Jonsson. Their noisy alt-rock approach, steeped in Brit-pop textures and marked by sweet vocal harmonies set against fuzzed-out, feedback-heavy guitars, drew comparisons to the Jesus and Mary Chain, Stone Roses, Sonic Youth, and the Chills. Securing a contract with the U.K. division of Blast First Records soon after their formation allowed them to issue the debut album Magic Seed and to share stages with Lush, the Charlatans, and House of Love on several prominent tours. Label difficulties eventually prompted a return to Sweden, where Snap Records issued the 1993 singles “Never Seen a Star” and “In Black and White.” The band dissolved in 1994 yet reconvened in 2010 for live shows marking the twentieth anniversary of their first release. Ahead of the 2017 arrival of their second album A Heartbeat from Eternity—produced by Charlie Storm and released on A Turntable Friend, the same imprint that reissued Magic Seed that year—they offered the single “Ask the Sky.”