Since starting off nearly a decade ago as a three-piece, the Concretes have ballooned to eight members - nine if you count producer Jarl Haapalainen, who regularly appears with the band on stage. But don't look for the Swedish exports to add anyone else anytime soon.

“We've come to a limit now, because we've just kept adding people all the time,” says drummer Lisa Milberg, one of the original members. "We don't fit into vans, and the rehearsal space is really claustrophobic at this point. And if we go some place with the band to play, we always lose someone, or someone loses their bag, and we have to go back. It's a nightmare, actually."

Not that Milberg has any illusions about the old days. "We hadn't even touched an instrument before we decided to start the band," she says. "We basically just started the band because everyone around us had bands and it seemed like the thing to do after school. For at least the first year, we basically just had a name and a rehearsal space -- but we didn't really spend much time there, and when we did we were just talking about the wonders we wanted to make.

"Then after a while, we got the impression that people were onto us, because everyone was like, 'But you've had this band for a year, and you never do any shows, and we can't hear your demos.' So then we had to cover the tracks and actually start working on songs."

They've come a long way. Drawing frequent comparisons to Mazzy Star, among others, their eponymous full-length debut has created a buzz in the U.K. and Europe for its sweet, dreamy brand of indie-pop - enough so that most of the members have finally been able to abandon their day jobs. And now, they're set to launch their first North American tour next Monday with a gig at Toronto's Lee's Palace.

Still, the Concretes have retained an endearingly haphazard quality. Accustomed to playing brief sets at home, Milberg - who also does all the band's artwork - seems genuinely surprised when told that audiences on this side of the Atlantic will expect sets to last at least 45 or 50 minutes.

"We're coming very fresh - we haven't done any research whatsoever," she confesses. "We don't know what it's going to be like at all. We don't know what people know about us, if they're going to like it, what they expect or anything."

Expect an ensemble that's learned to play its instruments very well. Just so long as none of its many members lose their luggage along the way.