In the early 21st century, many Scandinavian musicians have found their way to the U.S. indie marketplace—where smart, literate songwriters with either somber inclinations or piercing self-reflection have reinvigorated the art of making albums. Sweden’s John Roger Olsson creates quiet songs that owe more than a passing mention to American Music Club, Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon, and Ida, among the U.S.-based artists who mined this territory in the '80s and '90s. Olsson's fourth album as The Grand Opening, Don’t Look Back Into the Darkness, contains ideas that started in 2012 with a rotating cast of musicians but were finally actualized in four days of intense studio work. With just a drummer, bassist, cellist, and a duo of backing vocalists, Olsson captured his Swedish sense with songs like “Blacker Than Blue,” “False Light," and the instrumental “There Is Always Hope.” Not far removed from previous efforts, the album does much with less. There's no barrage of numbing sound, but rather the joy of a few select instruments executing their parts in service to the song.