In the early 1990s, Sweden made a name for itself as the home of a certain brand of indie pop where the sticky sweet melodies are balanced by healthy dollops of noise and detachment. Many artists followed in the tradition as the years went on, and Umeå native Nora Karlsson was one of them. As a guitarist in the group HOLY, she contributed to a band who took that template and stretched it in weird ways; on her own, under the name Boys, she took a deep dive into classic Swedish noise pop. Karlsson began working on her own songs in 2012 at the age of 17, but it took her a few years to share them with anyone except her bandmates in HOLY. The home-recorded songs were deemed strong enough by HOLY's label Pnk Slm to be released, and in 2015 the Kind of Hurt EP was issued. Another home-recorded EP, Love on Tour, followed in 2016, then Boys -- with Karlsson on guitar and vocals, Hannes Ferm of HOLY on drums, Anna Rauhala on guitar, Amanda Ferm on bass and Lina Högström on keyboard -- undertook a short tour of the U.K. and Scandinavia. Once back in her newly adopted hometown of Stockholm, Karlsson struggled with a case of writer's block while she got used to her new city, but once she had some songs ready, she and Hannes Ferm decamped to Studio Cobra to begin work on her debut album. The first result of the sessions, the song "Rabbits," was released on a split single with the band Magic Potion in October of 2017. Karlsson and Ferm finished the album soon after and Rest in Peace came out in early 2018 on Pnk Slm. The album was an introspective look at growing up with an expanded sound that introduced synths to Boys' musical universe. ~ Tim Sendra