Q&A: Johan Duncanson of the Radio Dept.

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Since releasing their debut album, 2003's Lesser Matters, Swedish dream pop act the Radio Dept. has developed a dedicated fanbase that's ready to ravenously consume every trickle of content the band humbly offers up. The group’s sound pairs the driving synthetics of the Pet Shop Boys with the lulling, celestial soundscapes of My Bloody Valentine and early SlowDive. Throughout a handful of releases, the group Radio Dept. has proven itself a torchbearer in the growing world of modern ambient pop music. The band’s latest release, 2016’s Running out of Love finds the group embracing a more electronic sound while simultaneously challenging the impact of a growing fascist movement in their home country. Just days before leaving for the group's current North American tour the band’s strong-willed and soft-spoken leader Johan Duncanson took a few minutes to talk about the future of the band, international politics, and what fans should expect from their upcoming shows.

How have you been preparing for this tour? Are you still living in Sweden?

I’m in sweden now, I’m actually in our studio trying to finish some new songs before we leave for America.

We went on a short run of European shows last week, but we have a week off before going to America. We tend to get very nervous before doing shows, but it was nice to try the set out for a week before we come to the US, because it’s been a long while since we’ve played in America. The last time we played was maybe six years ago, so it’s been some time. We’ve been back and forth for shows, but only toured America once before.

Could you explain your process of writing and recording as a band? How do you and Martin Larsson go about making music while living in different cities?

It kind of differs from song to song. Either I’ll travel to Martin and we’ll record in his flat, or he’ll come home to Stockholm, which is where we’re recording now. Sometimes it will start with a few chords, other times I might have most of the song written by the time I show it to Martin.

In the beginning, writing songs always started off with a guitar, but now it could be a bass line, a beat, or keyboard sound that will get us going. We’re not that traditional anymore; it’s actually been quite some time since we wrote one of our songs on an acoustic guitar.

How do you as a band try and shift your arrangements from the studio to the stage?

We never really consider how we’ll perform songs as we record. We'll usually just try and recreate our songs as well as we can, which was hard when we used to perform as a trio and the songs had a lot of layers. Now the new songs are more minimalistic, well sometimes there are not as many ingredients, and it’s easier because there are four of us now.

What’s songs are you most excited to play on this tour?

I like a couple from the latest album a lot. I like to play “Swedish Guns.” Oh, and “Occupied” too. “Occupied” was actually a surprise because, when it was released as a single prior to the album, and a lot of people mentioned it’d be hard work for a pop band like us to play live, but it’s been really fun to play because it’s pretty close to the record; it really works.

Since Running out of Love faced some delays, has the band’s sound started shifting again? Are you still channeling the electronic sounds you cultivated on the last album?

For now we’re trying to focus on making these shows true to the sound of the album, But we’re also playing songs from our last record that have a similar electronic feeling. I think they will work well together. I play some guitar, and we’re using strings and a lot of percussion, but it is quite electronic now.

Being someone who interweaves political themes into your songwriting, how does it feel being in America during such a tumultuous time?

I don’t know, I guess for our shows we’ll be pretty much preaching to the choir. But that’s the way we prefer it, because we don’t like fascists and Nazi’s at our shows, so it’s better that way.

Do you imagine what you’ll find in the States might make you inspired to write?

Inspired? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be inspired to write something, but I’m not trying to write lyrics at the moment. I was hoping to not talk about politics next time we put something out, but it will be hard not to because to me everything is going in the wrong direction everywhere. We’d rather write about a lot of different things. I don’t mind being political but it’s not something we aim for really, it was just impossible not to talk about it on Running Out Love. It’s sad that we had to.

Could you explain the meaning behind the title Running Out Of Love?

To us, Running Out of Love is a theme throughout all of the songs on the record, it was inspired by the sad political developments in Sweden. I wrote lyrics for the song, but decided it worked better as an instrumental track, because the lyrics made the meaning of the song too obvious, I think. Both Martin and I talk a lot about politics, and we've always been optimistic and hopeful for the future. But it’s hard to witness these political development in Sweden and still cling to that hope all the time. It’s easy to lose hope.

With Germans. Tonight (Feb. 17). 9 p.m. SOLD OUT. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Ave. S.E. 404-698-3449.