Start Listening To: 7ebra

On their second album, the Malmö twins turn the confusion, shame and small absurdities of adult life into emotionally open indie pop.

Inez and Ella, the twin sisters behind 7ebra, have spent much of their twenties trying to work out how to function in a world that seems determined to make ordinary adulthood feel increasingly strange. Their second album, How To Land a Plane, takes its title from an overheard phrase in a survival guide and treats it as a fitting metaphor for the whole process: everyone is expected to know what they’re doing, even when nobody has handed them the controls. Speaking from Malmö, the pair discuss the record’s more open-hearted writing, the 24-hour disaster behind ‘Dinner and a Movie’, the influence of Severance, writing songs in a cemetery and their hopes of becoming “full adults” by the age of 30.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We are Inez and Ella, a couple of almost-thirty twin sisters. Childish. We come from Malmö, Sweden, and we make some kind of indie pop music, usually emotional and personal. Sound-wise, it’s pretty minimalistic, but with some rock ’n’ roll tendencies.

How To Land a Plane is such a good title for a record about trying to navigate your late twenties without really knowing what you’re doing. Where did the phrase come from, and when did you realise it summed up the album?

We were with our brother, casually talking about a possible title, and he was reading from a survival guidebook we had left on our coffee table. He read out ‘How to Land a Plane’ and we thought it sounded great and felt a connection to it. Our dad used to be a steward and I, Inez, am terrified of flying. The title is a metaphor for struggling with daily life.

You’ve described these songs as more extroverted and emotionally open than those on Bird Hour. Did that happen naturally while writing, or did you consciously want to push against the more insular world of the first record?

Yeah, we wanted to try and write more specifically, or just give a little more information. It’s really hard to write lyrics and to like them consistently over time, so it takes time to decide what you want. Some songs are still pretty insular and mysterious, but it can be a nice blend.

‘Dinner and a Movie’ captures that horrible post-party combination of shame, regret and wondering why you didn’t just go home several hours earlier. Was there a particular night that sparked the song?

Yes, a particular night, or, to be a little more specific, 24-ish hours sparked ‘Dinner and a Movie’.

Capitalism and the increasingly strange experience of being a young adult run through the record, particularly on ‘I Have To Buy Stuff’ and ‘Bored Like A Dog’. How much has your own relationship with work, money and trying to build a life fed into the album?

There’s a lot of shame in not performing well, or as you ‘should’, in daily life. That feeling is represented throughout the album.

‘I Have To Buy Stuff’ manages to reference Liam Neeson in Taken while dealing with consumerism and the pressure to become a functioning adult. How did that particular lyric find its way into the song?

I had the line ‘I need an education’ in my head, and I had recently seen Taken. The phrase ‘particular set of skills’ appeared in my head and I thought it fit really well with the theme of the song. It would also be nice to have a particular set of skills like Liam Neeson has in Taken.

Severance was apparently an influence on the record. What was it about that show and its depiction of work that connected with what you were already thinking and writing about?

It’s funny and sad and bleak, like life. They capture the absurdity of the ‘work-life balance’ so well in the show, and that really connected with us. But mostly we were inspired by the theme song and how eerie it sounds, which made us think of this pharmaceutical company in our neighbourhood. Sometimes you see people there in white robes smoking outside at night.

Inez, ‘Lime Green Jello’ partly came from overthinking while working in a cemetery, which feels like almost suspiciously perfect songwriting conditions. What was that job like, and did spending so much time alone there affect the way you were writing?

It’s a repetitive job, which can be dull sometimes, but the people are really great and it’s rewarding. I worked there again this summer and wrote a lot. I think working there made me write in a more specific or descriptive way. The environment is also inspiring.

You’re twin sisters as well as bandmates. When you’re writing about things as personal as relationships, shame, insecurity and mental health, are there ever moments where one of you brings a song to the other and thinks, ‘I’m not sure I actually want you to hear this’?

No, but sure, it can be a little scary, only because you want them to like it.

After making music together for so long, how does a 7ebra song actually get written now? Are your roles clearly defined, or are you still capable of surprising each other with what you bring into the room?

We have pretty defined roles. Inez writes the first ‘draft’ and most of the lyrics, and then we play together and try things out.

What do you love right now?

Matthew Rhys in Widows Bay and Inde Navarrette in Obsession.

What do you hate right now?

All the loser tech-AI-looking, dumb pieces of trash subhumans that are ruining our planet.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and explain why it’s still important to you.

Inez: Elliott Smith by Elliott Smith, his album from 1995. It was the first album I heard from him and I hadn’t heard anything like it. The melodies and the lyrics go straight to my heart. All of his music is important to me. It feels like having a friend or something.

Ella: Anything by Jackson C. Frank. It makes me cry.

The album essentially asks how you’re supposed to become an adult when the world around you makes that increasingly difficult. Having finished How To Land a Plane, do you feel like you’ve worked any of it out, or are you still trying to find the controls?

It’s getting a little better. I, Inez, might finally be able to move out. If the stars align, I’ll be a full adult by 30.

Photography By: Dan Kendall