[Hi! Sean here. I am head-over-heels excited to tell you that Said the Gramophone is launching Said the Guests, a bi-weekly guestblogging series. Yes, you guessed it, awesome folks - musicians, critics, artists and more, - writing about music that they love. There are some positively fantabulous people who are on board, and more still (i hope) to come. Yay!

I'm delighted to start things off with a post from Annika Norlin aka Hello Saferide, heard before on Gramophone, a new Swedish act whose zesty indie-pop is glad, wry, and - most important of all - mindblowingly pop. Go listen to "High School Stalker" and if you're in Sweden, see her live. Either way - please give her a very, very warm welcome.]

So you wake up in the morning and you instantly know it's going to be a good day. How often does that happen? To me, for the last couple of weeks - every day. The reason is spelled "Coffee and Pastries" by the Galactic Heroes. This song has taken over my life in a sticky bubblegum way that hasn't happened since Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" (and that song was stuck in my head for five years). With a verse that will instantly make you wonder "What other song does that remind me of?" (correct answer: "Kingston Town") and the kind of chorus that you wonder how come no one thought about before, "Coffee and Pastries" is a stroll around an old neighbourhood, with lyrics that are a lot more sad than you first thought they were. The Galactic Heroes are Mike and Ricky, and their last album, Every Sidewalk was released in December, 2004.

The Galactic Heroes - "Coffee and Pastries"

My other Galactic Heroes favorite is "To A Passing Tune", probably the best celebration of a dead parent since... well, always. "And you tried to persuade us to sing / thought that's the last thing I need / turns out I was wrong", sing the Galactics, with as picture perfect harmonies you can get when you are sort of twee.

Their lyrics are sometimes so stupid you just know Mike and Ricky probably are the smartest people you'll ever get to listen to. Their previous album, How About San Francisco, featured 19 short songs about travelling across America, with lyrics about visiting friends ("Wonderful"). "We were driving all day / and when we finally got to your house / we went sledding by the hill by the cemetery / later on, Mike interviewed some kids / his butt was really wet / and Ricky finally got to see the Jefferson memorial." It's so uninteresting it interests me like mad. It's like a postcard from your aunt, and that what makes it brilliant. I want to know everything about that trip. Hell, I want to know everything about Mike and Ricky and their boring lives. What toothpaste do they use? What were the names of their fifth grade teachers? Would they marry me?

The Galactic Heroes - "Wonderful".

PS. Oh, and when my boyfriend ordered their albums from the Galactic Heroes always charming record company, Magic Marker records, he got a note back from the record company: "Hey! You rule." You have got to love that.

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Annika Norlin is Hello Saferide. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden, where she's busy finishing her debut album, Introducing: Hello Saferide. It will be released on Razzia Records in September.