The album was a return to the mood and feel of the band's 1994 debut album "Emmerdale" with a new lyrical focus on "unfaithful lovers" and, in the case of "Lovefool", "unrequited affection" propelled by Nina Persson's vocals and Peter Svensson's arrangements.
Produced by Tore Johansson, the same who produced its two precursors as well, The Cardigans' third album First Band on the Moon reflected on the band’s evolving confidence and musical maturation at the time. Featuring eleven tracks, all co-written by Svensson with Persson lending her pen to six, the album is most immediately defined by its seemingly paradoxical juxtaposition of swinging, upbeat soundscapes with darker, more melancholy subject matter. The Cardigans’ signature strong suit, in other words.
The aforementioned "Lovefool," propelled First Band on the Moon to unexpected commercial heights including the band’s only platinum certification in the US to date, is pure, exquisitely produced pop perfection. Let’s just get this fact out of the way, right off the bat. Featuring one of the more inescapable choruses of recent memory, the yearning, disco drum-tinged ode to delusion and desperation in love was the first song that Persson ever wrote, while awaiting her departing flight in an airport lounge no less. "At the time it sounded more like a slow bossa nova,"
But beyond their most recognizable single’s undeniable brilliance, First Band on the Moon boasts a handful of songs that are more intriguing and, to be quite honest, even more brilliant. The third and final single released from the album, “Your New Cuckoo” highlighted the affair with a guitar-driven, swinging groove, as Persson spies her lover on an escapade with his new paramour, not so affectionately referred to as his "new cuckoo."
The melodic, midtempo second single "Been It" found Persson exploring the disillusionment of unreciprocated love and support, it was an addictively propulsive exploration of post-breakup psychosis. A number of other standouts can be heard in the LP’s more subdued fare, beginning with the subversive "Heartbreaker," with Persson embracing the role of "vacant and free" ice queen as she documents her penchant for the ephemeral seduction of a one-night stand. Adopting a more endearingly sweet tone was "Happy Meal II," offered a tender portrait of the adrenaline-fueled anticipation preceding a first date.
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