Robert Church & the holy community is a swedish lo-fi popband living in Stockholm. The band was formed in 2006 by Joel & Rickard, who is writing and recording all the music. That summer, -06 RC&HC recorded their first EP "Low at the disco" followed by the next EP called the "The live sessions". In early 2007 indie cassette-label Best Kept Secret released the double EP. Later that year RC&HC started playing shows, adding two friends/musicians to the live-set, Anders & Tobbe. During 2007 RC&HC have played gigs in Stockholm and did a small UK tour playing the Indietracks Festival outside of Nottingham. Plus a single called "Awakening" was released on USA label Cloudberry Records, spring 2007. A new mini-tour to UK is comming up spring 2008, plus a full-length release on Series Two Records early 2008...
Influences:
Robert Wyatt, Sebadoh, Lill Lindfors...
Recommended if you like:
The Radio Dept, Ultra Vivid Scene, sebadoh, Teenage fanclub,New Order, Natural History,Stephen Malkmus and the jicks, Belle and Sebastian, The Feelies...
Releases:
Le Rouge CD (Series Two, 2008)
Awakening 3" CDEP (Cloudberry, 2007)
Low at the disco/The live sessions EP CS (Best Kept Secret, 2007)
The Apple Crumble EP (split EP) (Cloudberry, 2007)
Panda Sushi EP CD-r (2007)
Press:
"Swedens´s finest lo-fi underground Hymn-popsters!" This fabulous Stockholm based group will be making a pilgrimage to join us at Indietracks and will reward the believers with a set, which is sure to bring joy and fulfilment to the hearts of one and all. Their music is lo-fi. Warm and gentle male vocals drive over a meld of guitar, tambourine, electronica and sunny `ba-ba-ba` vocals to sway your head to (& perhaps your legs in a dancing stylee also). The Community have been busy in 2007, producing noless than 2 EP´s this year. (Indietracks Festival guide)
One of the bands we did come to fresh and enjoy at last weekend's Indietracks was Stockholm's Robert Church and The Holy Community. Compatriots The Radio Dept are probably the nearest contemporary comparison we can come up with for their lo-fi resetting of 1988-vintage indie with pop choruses. They have a couple of singles out domestically, one of which contains "Steve". (Sweeping the nation.blogspot.com)
Some Scandinavians provided the first standout of the day over in the church - which I should stress for the record was an actual church, with pews, altar, Bible bookcase and pulpit all still in place. Robert Church & The Holy Community play drone-inspired lo-fi that bears a resemblance to The Radio Dept, Ultra Vivid Scene and a few things I can't quite place which add up to a low key melodic spectral wonder. (The Art of Noiseblogspot.com)
Best Kept Secret is the Italian cassette-only label I'm referring too, and they just happen to have a penchant for some really sweet sounding Swedish indie pop. I wrote about one of these bands a little over two years ago (here), while the other is completely new (and damn impressive) to me. I proclaim Robert Church & the Holy Community's "Low At The Disco" to be the Swedish Pop Song of the Month. You got a problem with that!? (Swedesplease.net)
Interview
A Free Man
