Brave New Animals – Lastkajen 2024, Borås

Brave New Animals at Lastkajen 2024. Photo: Jonas Gustafsson

Brave New Animals is an alternative rock/dark indie rock band from Borås, Sweden, formed by lyricist, pianist and co-vocalist Felix Pastuscha Eliasson. Their debut album just came out, a week before playing at Lastkajen 2024.

In a recent interview with the local news outlet BT, the band described their music as contrasty and all over the place. Amongst their influences the band lists Lana Del Rey and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (according to their Spotify bio), and their sound is quite melancholic and atmospheric.

The band's first single Dark and Beautiful came out in December, 2023. A week before their show at Lastkajen, the band also dropped their debut album There's Beauty in All the Beasts, which you can listen to on Spotify.

Due to bad weather, I had to scram early to not mess up my gear. Therefore, I only have the first few songs to go by, and had the nagging feeling I left before it really had the chance to take off.

After giving the full album a listen, it's indeed quite somber and mellow as well. A lot of the songs are quite stripped down, relying mostly on melancholic piano or guitar melodies and Rahms beautiful, soulful vocals, but occasionally gets more into the rock territory. Most notably so on the track I'm A Danger, on which lyricist Felix Pastuscha Eliasson also takes a more leading role in the vocal position, otherwise carried by main vocalist Filippa Rahm. The track Heed My Call that follows it, is indeed also quite guitar-driven.

In any case, I hope to get a new chance to see the animals again in the future – preferably without the massive wrath of the weather gods.

Brave New Animals Are:

Felix Pastuscha Eliasson (vocals, lyrics, piano)
Filippa Rahm (vocals)
Johan Kristiansson (bass)
Pontus Pettersson (guitar)
Jonas Högberg (drums)

Lastkajen 2024

Find out more about the event by clicking/tapping the sections below!

Lastkajen ("The Cargo Bay") is a homegrown one-day mini festival set in Borås, Sweden. Everything from the bands, the beers, the food, and probably most of the visitors, are closely tied to the small Swedish town. Apart from the six bands performing, Niclas Larsson, a.k.a. "Shanty Town" was also DJ-ing throughout the evening.

Lastkajen is arranged by Ljudverkstan and Just Enjoy i Borås and had its first run in 2022.

Time and Location

Date & time: June 1, 2024. 5pm to midnight.
Location: Borås SE

No less than six local bands were on the bill for this mini-festival. Below is the running order:

17:00-17:30 - PIPISTRELLA
18:00-18:45 - EXIT STAGE LEFT
19:15-20:00 - BRAVE NEW ANIMALS
20:30-21:30 - THE STOMPING ACADEMY (no footage)
22:00-22:45 - HIMLEN BROR (no footage)
23:00-00:00 - LILJEBERGET (no footage)

Thanks to a fellow photographer I managed to get a photo pass with access to the photo pit and festival area. I used my full-frame gear and shot the first three shows.

During Brave New Animals' set, a massive skyfall (including not only rain, but also thunder and hail) unfortunately came and I had to scram to avoid getting water damage to my gear.