With a name like “Sjowgren,” one would assume the band is some Scandinavian or Norwegian pop group… FALSE! Sjowgren (pronounced show-grin) is an indie pop trio from California, with a dream-like retro sound.
The lead singer’s name is Maija Sjowgren (well that explains the crazy band name), and together with her former schoolmates Sam Ahrendt and Don Steele started making music and formed a band. They uploaded a few self-recorded, guitar-based songs, which were used for their Demos EP, released in June of 2015.
Here’s one of their early demo songs, “Before & Over.”
After adding full drums, piano, and a driving bassline, they released their single “Seventeen,” which was featured in an Autotrader commercial, which gave some brief screen time to the band members. It accumulated millions of streams, just as the band was making the decision to become full-time musicians.
Sjowgren’s latest single, “Now & Then,” hit the streaming charts in early 2017. Listening to is reminds me of floating down a lazy river for some reason. Listen below!
