Watch: Iberia “Everyday” (exclusive)

08 Mar 2013 — Henning Lahmann

If it weren't for pop music, you would probably think that within Europe, there could hardly be two places more apart from each other, in any respect whatsoever, than the Scandinavian and the Iberian peninsulas. But of course, as we all know, pop music very much is (please bear with me), so mentally connecting those two geographically disparate entities makes perfect sense, especially if you equate Scandinavia with Sweden (sorry, you other ones). Enter Iberia aka Gothenburg's Maja Mathé Milner (of Makthaverskan) and Alexander Palmestål (of now defunct Pistol Disco), who are actually located not in Gothenburg anymore but here in Berlin, which only further proves that Sweden is less a country than a state of mind; just like the Mediterranean (undecided as regards the German capital). What was I talking about? Oh right, Iberia. "Everyday" is the duo's brand new single, unveiled here today by way of this incredibly appropriate video. The song itself is picture-perfect Swedish pop, which means that it is instantly captivating and clearly made to live out there in the spotlight, yet entailing those delicately twisted edges that always manage to leave you slightly unsettled and anxious.

Speaking of states of mind, the video's 'protagonists' clearly have none, but that doesn't really matter in the end; it is actually creepy how perfectly the blatantly alien, deliberately un-hipsterish characters match with Iberia's thrusting, restless and subtly unnerving track. Add to all the above pan-European glory the fact that the video was shot by Rasmus Svensson at the latest Thunderdome festival in Amsterdam last December, and you really got just about every stereotypical continental rave hotspot gathered in a single instance of pop-cultural manifestation. If that ain't meta, I really don't know what is. Hardcore indeed.

Iberia's single Everyday will be out soon via Hybris, with the as yet unnamed debut full-length set to follow later this year.

(Photo by Tonje Thilesen)