About this artist
Despite a Scandinavian name and a sound that could pass for Nordic pop, Sjowgren (“show grin”) is an indie pop trio from California. A retro-soul edge is provided in large part by the unaffected alto of their lead vocalist, who, along with bandmates, prefers to remain anonymous. After releasing an EP of demos in 2015, their EP win′20 arrived in 2020.
Sjowgren emerged early in 2015, when they uploaded a few self-recorded, guitar-based songs that were collected for the Demos EP that June. The same month, they released the summery single “Seventeen,” which offered a fleshed-out, full-band arrangement. The song was featured in a commercial for an online marketplace early the next year. Sjowgren’s follow-up single “Now & Then” hit streaming charts in early 2017. A year later, they returned with a pair of stand-alone tracks, “Beginners” and “Better Off,” before re-emerging in 2020 with the self-released EP win′20. ~ Marcy Donelson