Sweden's Loney, Dear is Emil Svanängen and a rotating cast of his friends. Their music strikes me as a cross between the cherubic vocals of Sigur Ros, the arrangements of Sufjan Stevens, and the bittersweet optimism of Rogue Wave.

There seems to be no instrument Svanängen can't play, and he records all of his manipulations straight from home. Live on stage, he sometimes has up to nine supporting musicians playing guitars, sax, drums, clarinets, keys and claps to make his grand orchestral vision a reality.

Loney, Dear's latest album (and first for Sub Pop... before that, he was strictly a self-released CD-R man) is called Loney, Noir and I must remember it come December when thinking about my "Best of 2007" picks.

Loney, Dear play Schubas, on Sunday, March 18th.