First of all, State Cows is a very odd but fun name to a band, and secondly the cover is simply brilliant with a big sense of humour.
Sweden might not be the biggest producer of westcoast-music in the world, but there has been some very fine records, most notably Peter Friestedt and now on cd for the first time, Licence. State Cows joins this gang with a very fine release.
The band is made up of just 2 members, Stefan Olofsson and Daniel Andersson, the latter released a very good record a couple of years ago called Days in L.A. They have played some years together in their hometown of Umeå and also been in Los Angeles together were they have met the crop of the westcoast-elite.

The record itself must be dubbed “the Swedish answer to Airplay”, you just can’t deny that influence. Even Chicago has their fair share of influences in many songs. There are no fillers in sight on this record, although I have a couple of favourites. The extremely slick New York Town (were Jay Graydon plays the solo), Come To The Point with the typical Chicago-horns, and Tunisian Nights are 3 outstanding songs. Stella By The Barlight, Looney Gunman and the last song, Lost In The Mindgame, are other superb songs. But as I said, no fillers in sight, even the instrumental song fits in well. I just can’t find the right words for this, I’m actually out of words for this record.
It’s very well produced too, no matter how I try I just can’t find anything wrong anywhere.

If you like Airplay, and who doesn’t as a westcoast-fan, or earlier Chicago, this is a must for You. The record outclasses everything that has come in the genre the latest years. Buy it or stop listening to westcoast-music…

Info:
Label: Avenue Of Allies (Avenue 10 08 0016)
Producer: Stefan Olofsson and Daniel Andersson
Release date: June 18th 2010
Line-up: Daniel Andersson (vocals, guitars), Stefan Olofsson (keyboards, bass)
Add. musicians: Fredrik Lundgren (guitars), Peter Olofsson and Peter Fredlander (drums), Stefan Lindblom (bass), Mikael Emsing (percussion), Pär Wretling, Olle Lindgren and Markus Asplund (horns), Marcuz Granberg and Christian Thomsen (backing vocals), Jay Graydon, Peter Holmqvist, Mikael Sandström and Göran Turborn (guitarsolos), Petri Kivimäki (sax solo)

Rating: 9/10