Even with their numbers well into the double digits, the ensemble that makes up I’m From Barcelona still have a strange way of making their listeners feel included in something rather simple and small. Led by songwriter Emanuel Lundgren, this musical company of close friends has been steadily gaining recognition thanks to the jovial pop of their 2006 debut album Let Me Introduce My Friends. With steam to spare carrying over from their native Sweden to the college radios of the U.S., the band’s success is a case study in accidental circumstances.

Lundgren himself has often stated in interviews that he never intended on forming a band. On the verge of a four-week vacation away from his job as a web-designer, this red-headed local of Jönköping thought it would be fun if he took a few lighthearted pop songs he had written and record them with 28 of his friends. With tapings taking place at various apartments and other rehearsal spaces, a homemade EP was quickly completed and, at the suggestion of some of those in the group, Lundgren scheduled a single performance. With news and acclaim of the show traveling faster than they could disband, this unusual group found themselves signing a deal with EMI Sweden and touring on the road.

One of the most important things to recognize when it comes to listening to I’m From Barcelona is that—unlike Tim DeLaughter and his Polyphonic Spree—Lundgren did not send out some nationwide audition call for willing performers and musicians. He simply went to those that were closest to him. To him, having any artistic background was irrelevant.

It’s this disregard for professionalism that makes Let Me Introduce My Friends such a intimate and fun experience. On the album’s opening track, “Oversleeping,” Lundgren and his cohorts skip along with drums, glockenspiels, bells, and a child-like tick-tock-tick-tock urgency. Like most of My Friends’ tracks, the highlights come during the anthem-sized choruses. Going through a lyrical quick-draw of recovery options Lundgren makes waking up late into an adventure: “I can make it in time / If I jump out of bed / If I skip to wear clothes / And get running instead / I get on my feet / If I skip to hit snooze / If I don’t care to eat / And get running instead / I can make it in time.” As he races through the possibilities, an overlapping barrage of voices bring everything to finish that makes you wish every morning could start as upbeat as his.

Incorporating an eclectic mix of instrumentation, another one of I’m From Barcelona’s catchiest songs is “Treehouse.” Making use of everything from guitars to banjos, flutes and harps, to handclaps and stomping feet, the band doesn’t stray far from its repeated chorus. As many times as may you hear the words “I have built a treehouse / Nobody can see us / It’s a you and me house,” its ever-growing energy only makes it feel like you’re actually climbing up to some special sanctuary.

When it’s all said and done, I’m From Barcelona’s ultimate goal is to make you feel like you’re a part of something out of the ordinary. In what could be considered to be the band’s song-form manifesto, “We’re from Barcelona,” dozens of voices present an invitation for anyone and everyone to join in: “Love is a feeling that we don’t understand / But we’re gonna give it to ya . . . . we’ll bring you love / You’ll be one of us when the night comes.”

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