School ’94 – “Off To Live” & “Sway”

Philip Liljenberg

School ’94 – “Off To Live” & “Sway”

Philip Liljenberg

Way back at the end of 2014, the Gothenburg pop-rock combo School ’94 released their exquisite debut EP Like You. At the time I called it “fervent music that bridges the gap between Smiths-style guitar-pop and the new wave jams that ruled US radio in the Reagan era,” praising the title track for “building from tender fragility to triumphant strength under its crystalline exterior.” They followed Like You last year with another EP called Bound, from which we shared the title track and “Common Sense.”

This week the group returns with a pair of new songs called “Off To Live” and “Sway.” According to a wonky web translation from this Swedish website, these are tracks that didn’t fit in with their other releases but were too good to be discarded. I’m not sure I see how they fail to fit in — they sound pretty much exactly within this band’s wheelhouse — but I agree they were too good to discard. Listen below.

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