:: Swoon (Shallow)

Kumla is a locality and the seat of Kumla Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with a population of 21,640 as of 2018. The name Kumla is renowned for its prison (“the Kumla Institution”, or Kumlaanstalten, commonly known as ‘The Bunker’), which is the largest prison in the country. I don’t think I’ve ever written about a band of this small town in Sweden. A small town not only known for its prison but also for being an important shoe manufacturing town in the past. They even have a Shoe Industry Museum. It is in this town that there used to be a very fine shoegaze band called Swoon. Swoon started in the mid-90s. I believe they were previously called Shallow (due to a Catherine Wheel song as well as “Only Shallow” by My Bloody Valentine). The band was influenced by those sounds, which is interesting for sure, I don’t know many Swedish shoegaze bands. They were formed by John Hård on guitar, Staffan Ljunggren on drums and Ola Ljunggren on vocals and bass. The last two were brothers. They…