Sweden rock indie act Juno Pearl is captivating audiences with their National meets U2 sound. Their lyrics are driven with honesty and emotion and talk a great deal about mental health as well. I talked to the band, which is comprised of members lead vocalist Anton Nilsson, guitarist Anthon Löw, drummer Jonathan Obenius, and bassist Gustav Thunström about Sweden’s indie scene, the band’s influences, and what is next in their musical direction.
What does it mean to be from the indie rock Sweden scene? What is the Sweden indie scene like?
Well Sweden has had since the 90’s a vibrant indie rock scene, with great bands that have had huge success here and abroad. Mostly they’re located in bigger cities such as Gothenburg on the west coast, while we live on the northeast coast where we’re fewer in number. Usually, the indie rock scene here has sort of a “DIY-mentality” where writing, recording, social media posts, artwork & bookings are done within the band and other local connections that we can use. Which has forced all of us to become quite creative in our music making and how we show it to the world.
Who are the band’s influences?
Every member of the band comes from different musical backgrounds, which we have always felt were our biggest strength. But musically we could be described as a sort of mix of Sam Fender, The War On Drugs, and U2, while lyrically we look up to people such as Bowie, Nick Cave, and Jarvis Cocker. So, we guess we’re quite Anglo-leaning in our sound.
The band’s lyrics dive into mental health topics. How important is mental health themes to the band?
This band and the songs we’re writing has become sort of like putting your journal out to the world, and everyone can read it. It’s really scary and comforting at the same time, but it has given us a platform where we can share our thoughts and feelings openly, and it’s so much easier to sing about than talk about. And we’re not really interested in breaking any stigmas and stuff like that for the sake of that alone, it’s just more so that it’s part of our lived experience. And what it means to be human and alive is what most of our songs deal with, then these topics slip in pretty easily.
What is your song “100 Days” about?
The song exists within a sort of “Drugstore Cowboy-ish” world and scenario. We follow the main character and his longing for another life, and the obstacles that follow when desire clashes with dreams and nostalgia.
What is next for the band? What does the next Juno Pearl chapter look like ahead, musically speaking?
Next for the band is to continue to polish our sound as we continue in the style of our three latest singles: “Elephant”, “Clockworks” and “100 Days”. You’ve noticed a shift in the style and production of these songs from prior releases, and we feel that we’ve really started to catch on to something great! So, in 2026 we will continue to release songs and explore new and different sounds with heartfelt lyrics.
