Swedish duo feel their age
In the song “15 With Me,” twin sisters Inez and Ella Johansson of the band 7ebra try to sort out why the insecurities of their teenage years still linger in their twenties. With a soft backing of guitar, organ and synthesizer, their wistful vocals express insecurity, shame and hopelessness. The twenty-something duo wrestle with these same emotions on their 2026 release, How to Land a Plane, an album about surviving their post-teenage lives. 7ebra’s second album is a step up from their 2023 debut with improved songwriting and instrumentation. What hasn’t changed is the sister’s lovely blended vocals, which give each track its melancholic edge. Like the cover photo of a baby sitting uncomfortably in the middle seat of a Scandinavian Airlines flight, surrounded with too much stimulation, the album title captures the feeling of uneasiness in the songs. The twins want to touch down the plane safely to avoid a crash.
Inez and Ella grew up in Malmö, Sweden, and were raised on their father’s records. Both parents played in bands, and at home they listened to The Beatles, XTC, Genesis, and English prog rock. When the girls became teenagers, they graduated to Fleet Foxes and Dylan LeBlanc. Inez plays guitar and was the first to write songs, while Ella focused on keyboards. “I learned by playing covers by myself in my room,” explained Inez on the group’s Bandcamp page. “Ella didn’t do that as much, but we sometimes played and sang together, country songs.” Inez had planned to become a solo artist, but when she needed help with a gig, Ella was the logical choice. “That show, at the prestigious Tambourine Studios in Malmö, was truly a turning point,” noted their Bandcamp page. “Not only as the first performance as a duo, but amongst the crowd was Tore Johansson, the acclaimed producer behind indie rock classics ranging from The Cardigans to Franz Ferdinand.” Tore contacted the duo the next day to see if they wanted to make a record.
7ebra signed to PNKSLM Recordings and made their debut, Bird Hour, with Tore Johansson producing. The duo released the single “I Have a Lot to Say” / “If I Ask Her” in 2022 and went on tour in Scandinavia and Europe. Bird Hour released in 2023, and the band went on a second tour in Japan, the UK, and the U.S. For their follow-up album, Inez and Ella turned to Tore Johansson again, but he was unavailable, so he recommended Malmö producer Jens Lindgård for the project. Lindgård took a greater role in writing and arranging the songs for How to Land a Plane, along with contributing guitar and xylophone. It made for a stronger album and songs that cut deep into what Inez and Ella were struggling with. “There’s a lot of shame in not performing well, or as you ‘should,’ in daily life,” they told Eliot Odgers for Still Listening Magazine. “That feeling is represented throughout the album.”
“Magical Thinking” opens How to Land a Plane with layered synths, boisterous guitar, and airy vocals. The atmospheric backdrop provides a haunting backing for the sister’s dark lullaby about fear and insecurity. On the abrasive “I Have to Buy Stuff,” they tackle consumerism, and “Bored Like a Dog” finds them restless and uninterested. Inez wrote “Lime Green Jello” when she worked at a cemetery cleaning headstones, a menial job that gave her too much time to think. “It’s about obsessing over how you might be perceived, comparing yourself to others you think are more likable, becoming jealous and insufferable,” explained Inez. “The conclusion is I’m just a person with nothing exciting or original to say sometimes.” With its revolving beat, “Normal Song” may seem like the album’s most upbeat track, danceable maybe, but even then the chorus has them crying in a field. How to Land a Plane may sound like a downer, but there’s beauty in the music and truth in their words.
During his interview, Odgers asked Inez and Ella to name an album that has stayed with them through their teens and into adulthood. Their answers were not surprising. Inez picked Elliott Smith’s self-titled debut, and Ella’s choice was another downhearted singer. “Anything by Jackson C. Frank,” Ella said. “It makes me cry.”