Apparently, lightning does in fact strike twice. In exactly the same way that indie chamber folk auteur Jens Lekman was discovered -- his homemade CD-Rs falling into the right hands -- Lekman's Swedish compatriot Emil Svanngen ended up signed to a respected American indie label when someone in Sub Pop's Seattle offices happened upon the talented singer/songwriter's early homemade discs through the Internet. Hailing from the small city of Jonkoping, Sweden, Svanngen first began recording homemade, overdubbed tapes of delicate, folkish indie pop (with shades of acts like Belle & Sebastian, Neutral Milk Hotel, and the Magnetic Fields) in the early 2000s. As Loney, Dear, Svanngen self-released three homemade CD-Rs through his website: River Fontana Redux, Citadel Band, and Solange. As buzz developed through MP3 blogs and other new media manifestations, Sub Pop offered Svanngen a contact in 2006. The first proper Loney, Dear album, Loney, Noir, was released in early 2007, as Svanngen put together a full-band lineup of the group for his first international tour. - allmusic.com

On a recent trip to NYC, a decimated version of Sweden's Loney Dear found some time to cram on to a couch somewhere in Manhattan to play a couple songs for Baeble's Guest Apartment series. During the performance the band used the occasion to unearth "Here Comes The Lonely Ones"; a song Loney Dear hadn't performed in six years. For their second number, the band produced an incredible, stripped down version of the usually cinematic track "Violent". - David Pitz