This was published in Aftonbladet Puls. Aftonbladet is an eveningpaper in Sweden and Puls is its entertainment 'attachment' that comes out on Fridays. I don't know exactly when this article is from, just that it's after "Drawn From Memory"'s release date.

The liesmen of britpop
Embrace tired of all the ironies. They offer epic sound instead.

Embrace have been called the deathangels of britpop. Their melancholic popballads scared the exuberant established bands. But the band panicked from all the expectations. That was 1998. Now they're back with the new album "Drawn From Memory".

- We don't try to impress as much nowadays, says keyboardplayer Mickey Dale.
- We sat down before this record and thought out the things we didn't want to do. And one of those was 'no bloody orchestras'. This record is tighter. We sound more like a band. It's recorded in a big house, where everybody enjoyed themselves. It was more like playing live, he says.

Embrace's first EP "All You Good Good People" was elevated to the sky in the British press. They were called "the champions of the end of britpop" and "the grim readers of Brit pop". It was insinuated that all britpop bands should be guarded, because they would soon be unemployed - because of Embrace.
In Sweden that may sound strange - here people had hardly heard about the five Leeds guys.

Somewhat exaggerated vision
The band had also difficulties identifying with the deathangel vision, and in hindsight it was slightly exaggerated. But maybe there was something in it anyway. 1997 was the year when all major britpop bands released a record, but after that the genre died out. Embrace came 1998 and were one of the bands that rised from the ashes.
- I disliked all the britpop bands a lot. It was all so fake, and was supposed to be so smart. I don't mind irony in a song but it got too much - irony, on irony, on irony, says singer David McNamara (and we all know it's DANNY! Idiotic journalist).

Got panicked
After "All You Good Good People" came three other Eps, all with good critic. The bands full length album delayed because they had to stop in order to do promotion concerts and interviews.
- Every time we got back to the studio we had to think about where we were, says David (it's DANNY!!!!).
When they finally managed to get the album "Good Will Out" (it's "The Good Will Out"…geeee…) out the critics weren't as impressed.

Embrace became famous for their beautiful melodies, and their grand string arrangements. Somebody called it "the epic Embrace-sound" which made the bandmembers slightly panic-stricken. On the new album "Drawn From Memory" they wanted to get away from labels and categories.
-It really felt limiting. So we thought, okay, we'll try to do things we haven't done before, experiment. We did everything possible - techno, German deathmetal (something hit me…do they mean they sang German too??? Webmaster's note). The experiments that worked are the ones that made it to the record.
But it's hardly deathmetal. A few new touches and different arrangements. But basically the epic "Embrace-sound" is still there (right or wrong, I personally think that someone who can't even get their names right can't judge their album either, webmaster's note).

Embrace archive:
Members: David McNamara (vocals…and it's DANNY you…whatever you call yourself), Richard McNamara (guitar), Mickey Dale (keyboard), Steve Firth (bass), Mike Heaton (drums). From: Leeds, Great Britain. Albums: "The Good Will Out" 1998, "Drawn From Memory" 2000. Currently released: new album "Drawn From Memory".

Tom Fägrell