With their first album in seven years "Wizards on the Beach", Moonbabies serves up a delightful blend of pop rich in electronic technicolor explosions and entrancing melodies synonymous with their Scandinavian homeland. During their seven year hiatus, Moonbabies rediscovered their core, that place of making rich nuanced music without betraying their artistic sensibilities. The duo moved to Berlin where they were incredibly inspired by the local house and dance scene. It was there they began picking up new ideas, and moving the band in a new, more electronic direction.

Through the highs of success and the lows of an identity crisis resulting from it, they searched and rediscovered their core, that place of making nuanced music that is both personal and melodic without betraying their artistic sensibilities. Ola Frick, one-half of the Swedish duo elaborates, “I think this is something that is deeply needed in the rushed state of the world. Music that’s has a deep sense of colors and shades, meaningfulness, and making it without any sort of superficialities."

The Moonbabies started in 1997 in Malmö, Sweden as a shoegaze inspired band progressing steadily into the critically acclaimed 2004 sophomore release, The Orange Billboard. According to Ola the album was somewhat modeled after Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot which was the blueprint for what they wanted to do. Take great songs and deconstruct and turn it inside out until it’s more interesting, and mix it with lo-fi, electronic pop and experimentation. The Orange Billboard broke the band in Europe along with an extensive European tour. This led to the release of the mini album War On Sound with the title track being featured in its entirety on Grey’s Anatomy. The track was an immediate indie anthem in Sweden and established the band internationally.

“Right up to that point we were in control. Everything about Moonbabies had been one happy arrow pointing upwards and we were having fun doing it. We really loved Moonbabies,” says Ola. "But for our third album we felt pressure to deliver songs that were commercially viable. Right there we also started to drift away from our own creative vision while damning ourselves for not staying completely true to our past playfulness.”

So what do you do when you truly start to doubt yourself and feel no inspiration? Get out of your comfort zone. The duo moved to Berlin where they were incredibly inspired by the local house and dance scene. It was there they began moving the band in a new, more electronic direction representative of their surroundings. Although inspired, being in a new environment also presented its challenges. Ola says, “In Malmö we were the center of attention and walked with our heads held high, in Berlin we had to constantly prove ourselves, which in our case became counter-productive.”



After two years in Berlin, they moved home to Sweden in 2009 and to the comforts of their old studio where they began again. Caught in a cycle where they continued to strive to overcome obstacles and simply push through, they began the album over 30 times without feeling they were making progress.



It was the birth of their son in 2013 that provided the catalyst for breeding new life into their creative process. The previous summer they decided they wanted to have children and they simply said "OK let's make an album of what we have! Cut away all bad memories and just focus on the songs that makes the hairs on your arms stand up." They took charge, switched back to their old equipment they knew well and went through loads of material. It was here they discovered bits and pieces they couldn’t appreciate before and the warmth started to flow again.

“Wizards on the Beach” explores a sense of Salvador Dali surrealism and vibrant dream pop full of introspective shades. Moonbabies has recently been praised and featured in Brooklyn Vegan, BBC Radio 6, Under The Radar, Pure Volume, The Vinyl District among many and the first single of the album "Chorus" launched its way up to #6 on the Hype Machine charts in November 2014.

“We're extremely proud of the songs and the direction it took,” Ola reflects. “It's something that we feel is unique and interesting and experimental, but in its core is all about being honest and pure and doing music that speaks to yourself.” The Moonbabies are back in Technicolor vision and “through all hellfire” are better and more dynamic than ever.