The first thing I did after listening to GOLA’s debut single, “Painting By Numbers,” was rewind and play it again. Then I listened to it a third time — but I just couldn’t get it out of my head. This is the nature of GOLA’s sound: it’s raw, it’s real and it’s only just begun. The Swedish duo is planning to release their debut EP, “This Is Our Room,” in the near future, and as musicians with a long history of collaboration, they’ve bypassed the needless formalities of starting a new group and skipped straight to what’s most important — the art itself.

Bandmates Samuel and Charlie were kind enough to take a break from their work and answer a few of my questions about GOLA’s beginnings and their history together in music.

YY: Both of you have a history making music separate from each other, your music having made its way “from indie circles to major labels (Sony Music, Capitol Music).” Can each of you share a brief history of your time in music thus far?

G: Sure. We got to know each other in our early teenage years and soon after started playing music together in our first band. When we were 16 years old we won a band competition called ‘Ginza Metal Battle’ and signed our first major record deal (Capitol), played Sweden Rock Festival amongst other things. During our late twenties Samuel started a solo indie project in Sweden (Docks, Sony Music Group) and have released two EPs thus far. Charlie had a band of his own based in Malmö. Between us we have hundreds of gigs and thousands of hours in the rehearsal room, most of them together.

How is GOLA different from your past projects?

GOLA is easy and non-anxious. Our only ambition is to make music together that we love ourselves and literally nothing else. And that’s the first time we can say that with full honesty. I think our long history and finally growing up (ish) contributed to that.

Your debut EP, “This Is Our Room,” will contain themes of “friendship, addiction and the things that hurt,” and your first single, “Painting By Numbers,” a wandering, introspective ballad, arguably touches on all three – what else can we expect from “This Is Our Room?”

“This Is Our Room” is literally recorded in a room in Stockholm together with our great producer and friend Anton Fernandez. It's very raw, quite lo-fi and made with a less-is-more approach. You can expect four songs that blend into one other, and they’re all on the calmer and acoustic side of things. Lyrically the theme is consistent with “Painting By Numbers.” We’re addressing and reflecting on what’s been going on in our lives, really — both as friends and individually.

A string arrangement by renowned composer Erik Arvinder floats in and out of “Painting By Numbers,” adding a beautiful foil to its gritty lyrics. How did this collaboration come about?

We knew quite early that we wanted strings on this song as we felt immediately that this one was special and deserved an arrangement that could match that. I think it was Anton (producer) that mentioned that Erik would be the best fit, and luckily he liked our songs and started working on it immediately. We’ve recorded strings on another song on the EP, so there’s more to come!

“Painting By Numbers” is about “being young. … Just a lost 25 year old stuck in a spiraling addiction.” Assuming the song is at least partly autobiographical, what might you say to that version of yourself now looking back?

Honestly I’d probably give him a cigarette, roll my eyes and say, “Mate, it gets weirder.” But also I’d tell him that he’s not broken, just bored, overwhelmed and trying too hard to feel everything at once. That version of me thought self-destruction was romantic, but it’s also really boring after a while. It’s way more fun staying alive and actually feeling things properly. I don’t think he’d have listened though.

When you started writing music again as a duo, you didn’t have any major plans for the future. Now with your debut single and an EP on the way, what can you say about what might be next for GOLA?

We’ll try and keep up a high pace and will release our second single quite soon. And we can’t wait to get to work on our upcoming songs after this EP — you’d be quite surprised if you heard how they sound. We’re having a lot of fun and will try to release a lot of music basically. You’ll just have to try and keep up!