The Radio Dept. Contemplate Opening Their Vaults for New EPs

The Radio Dept. may be one of the most deceptively prolific bands in indie-pop. Since 2002, the Swedish trio has released just three full-lengths, but a close look at the group's discography reveals some 15 singles and EPs -- songs from which are collected on 'Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2008,' which came out on Jan. 25.

But even that two-disc set won't tell the whole story. While recording its two most recent albums, 2006's 'Pet Grief' and 2010's dreamy, jangly triumph 'Clinging to a Scheme,' main songwriters Johann Duncansson and Martin Carlberg cut dozens of extra tracks, none of which they plan to make available anytime soon.

"I think we're going to use some of them for a later album," Carlberg tells Spinner. "I don't know. For 'Pet Grief,' we had 30 songs that didn't make it to the album. This time we have about maybe 80 songs for 'Scheme.' But some of them are just ambient things, nothing at all. When it comes to real songs, it's more like 60 or something. It's a lot of music. It's a lot of hours behind those. I hope we will make something out of that."

Carlberg cites distance as one of the main reasons the Radio Dept. haven't released more music. The multi-instrumentalist is a family man, and until recently, he lived outside of Stockholm, where Duncansson, the band's founder, makes his home.

"We have trouble just getting things done," Carlberg says. "I have two kids. It's kind of a struggle to sit down and figure out what to do. We can maybe do some EPs in between [albums], just for fun."

On those occasions Carlberg and Duncansson have been able to get together, they've tended to write songs in a variety of ways, sometimes bringing in finished products, other times collaborating on both words and music.

"Sometimes Johan has a complete song," he says. "'Domestic Scene' [from 'Clinging to a Scheme'], he finished himself. I just put some keyboard and guitars on there. Sometimes we do everything [together]. He has a verse and I have a refrain or chorus, and we do the lyrics together sometimes. It's just whatever it takes to finish the album. But we don't have a quick fix for making music. We just try to get it done."

The Radio Dept.'s 'Never Follow Suit' Video