The Radio Dept. will perform show in Seoul

Swedish pop band The Radio Dept. / Courtesy of The Radio Dept.

By John Redmond

Swedish dream pop band The Radio Dept. will perform a show at HanaTour VHall in Hongdae, Seoul, Monday.

Featured on the soundtrack of Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” Radio Dept. was formed in Lund, Sweden, in 1995, under the name Radioavdelningen, Swedish for radio department, after a gas station-turned-radio repair shop.

The Radio Dept. has recently decided to only play shows in Asia to get out of “playing in their own front yard,” according to an interview on promoter Super Color Super’s Facebook page.

Frontman and founder Johan Duncanson said that the band had an offer to play in Mongolia “because we haven’t been there before,’’ indicating the need to break out of the U.S. and European live scene.

The tour includes shows in Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Bangkok.

With comparisons and influences as diverse as the Pet Shop Boys, Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division and Nick Drake, The Radio Dept. spent 20 years signed to Labrador Records.

Tickets cost 75,000 won at the door.

To get to HanaTour VHall, take exit 9 of Hongdae Station and go straight. Turn left toward Hongik University. VHall is in the basement of the second building on the right of this street, located across the alley from Forever 21.