Studio’s West Coast wasn’t inspired by California but by the rugged Swedish archipelago near Gothenburg, where Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg lived. The album captures the duality of their home—where a bustling city meets remote, wind-beaten islands—through an intoxicating fusion of house, disco, pop, and indie rock. Their music felt both ancient and futuristic, damp and hedonistic, standing out in Gothenburg’s small but internationally influential music scene. Nearly two decades later, West Coast still pulses with a restless energy, a sound as hypnotic as the landscapes that inspired it.
The album’s heartbeat is West Side, a track that moves like a fever dream—syrupy basslines thump beneath wiry guitar riffs, hand drums ripple through a stuttered backbeat, and electronic flourishes create a hazy sense of motion. Midway through, the momentum halts, and Lissvik murmurs what could be Studio’s mantra: “Solid good times.” But it’s not over—the song surges back, the final minutes a euphoric, extended coda that makes indulgence feel essential. Studio didn’t just capture the feeling of escape; they turned it into something eternal.