“We’re going to party like it’s 1699,” sings Nina Persson on Colonia, the second album the Cardigans frontwoman has released under the A Camp name with husband Nathan Larson (Shudder To Think) and Niclas Frisk. As the lyric and album title imply, the ornate Colonia is loosely based on the theme of love in the time of colonialism and is inspired by cabaret and musicals from the ’40s. Larson and Persson—king and queen of Colonia—are guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with them.
Nathan And Nina: OK sure, we’re mostly Swedish, so we’re partial to many things Swedish. One of the great contributions Sweden has made is in the area of footwear: the clog. Our moms used to rock clogs in the ’70s. Both our moms had (and still have) that painted-wooden-clog vibe. They look dope, but the thing is with all that wood, they hurt your feet. We find that American (sad to say) brands like Dansko make the best, most comfortable clogs on the market, because they’re largely leather and hard plastic. Now we want to express to those of you out there who are of the opinion that guys can’t rock clogs: This is nonsense. Clogs are hot, regardless of gender. Nathan has like three pairs and rocks them all the time. On the last tour, Nathan pretty much wore them all day. They’re kind of the perfect shoe. When Nina met Dolly Parton (whose genius calls for a much more intensive treatment than we can give her here), Nina gave her a pair of clogs from a company called Hasbeen in Sweden. Dolly seemed pleased, but remarked that the “heels were too low” and she’d have to “get ’em fixed up.”
