The
Legends are one of several indie pop projects masterminded by Swedish producer/musician
Johan Angergård, whose other bands include
the Acid House Kings,
Eternal Death, Djustin and
Club 8. Initially conceived as a fuzzy, gutsy indie pop act (something like a rougher, fierier version of
the Acid House Kings), the group made its live debut in 2003 as an opening act for
the Radio Dept. Their first EP, There and Back Again, was released on Labrador one year later, and was quickly followed up by the full-length
Up Against the Legends.
Angergård took
the Legends in a new direction for their sophomore effort; 2005's Public Radio found
the Legends dipping into a reverb-swathed sound modeled after post-punk acts like
the Cure and
New Order.
Facts and Figures,
the Legends' third full-length, found their sound shifting yet again, this time in favor of a chic, danceable sound that nodded to acts like
Kraftwerk and
Daft Punk as well as the breezy indie pop sensibilities characteristic of
Angergård's other projects. Released in 2009,
Over and Over found the group employing a host of styles and sounds, referencing everything from '60s girl groups to angular noise rock. After that album,
Angergård focused on other projects like
Club 8,
the Acid House Kings, and
Eternal Death, all of whom released something in early 2010s. Even though he considered
Over and Over to be the final
Legends album, a couple years later,
Angergård found himself writing and recording songs that could only be released under that name. Inspired by a tough breakup, the modern synth pop and R&B-leaning
It's Love was issued by Cascine in June of 2015. Never one to take much of a break,
Angergård teamed with American singer Rose Suau to form the sophisticated synth pop duo Djustin in 2016, releasing an EP that year and readying an album for 2017. The next
Legends album soon followed, with
Angergård veering deeper into synthesized music. The quickly recorded Nightshift goes full Moroder as all the vocals are fed through vocoders, the synths are epic and the beats are robotic. Vocalists Elin Berlin of
Eternal Death, Red Sleeping Beauty's Kristina Borg and Maria Usbeck all guest on the album, which was released by Labrador in early 2017. ~ Tim Sendra