Unmistakably Nordic in flavor, Sofia Talvik somehow still conforms to American interpretations of her own original music, a North Sea siren blending sparkle and melancholy, creating a special niche of folk music.
Hey, it’s Christmas soon and I know for sure that in Sweden they have a massive amount of snow right now.
I’m currently having a few days off on my US tour before Christmas, so now I’m hiding away from the cold down in California. I’ve done a couple of concerts around San Diego and I wanted to share some Christmas spirit with my audience. On the last concert I did, I recorded this video of my song “When Winter Comes“. It’s not really about snow or winter, but I thought it was fitting for this time of season.
Sofia Talvik live at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago
[quote] Sofia totally shined as an artist while beautifully expressing the Swedish language and poetic floetry to the audience.[/quote]
SoutSide of the Town
Music blog SouthSide of the Town in Chicago, IL has published this nice review of my concert at the Swedish American Museum in July. Read the full review here!
Sofia Talvik in front of the Swedish American Museum
This Thursday I was invited to play at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago. What a great night it turned out to be. I’ve played at the museum once before, when I was on my Lollapalooza tour in 2008 so it was a real treat to be invited back. There were over 120 people in the audience and we had a very nice VIP reception before the show.
Many thanks to Karin Moen Abercrombie and the other board members of the Swedish American Museum for a wonderful night, and to Konstnärsnämnden for supporting as well.
Here’s some pictures from the show. You can see the full album here!
Here’s the closest upcoming gigs on my tour:
Wednesday, 08/01 Madison, WI The Frequency Thursday, 08/02 Rockford, IL Emerson House – Concert Conversations Friday, 08/03 Rock Island, IL Cool Beanz Coffee House Saturday, 08/04 Cedar Rapids, IA Legion Arts – CSPS Hall Tuesday, 08/07 Des Moines, IA Vaudeville Mews Wednesday, 08/08 Mankato, MN The Coffee Hag Thursday, 08/09 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue Saturday, 08/11 Minneapolis, MN FIKA / American Swedish Institue
Sofia playing live at the museum
Full house at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago
[quote]The Norse goddess played here at the Bama theatre last week and totally wowed the crowd. Definately a do not miss. Some traditional folk, infused with her Swedish musical heritage. Haunting, great songwriting, and unique melodies! About 100 people and Nobody got up for the bathroom, or a beer during her show. I heard people talking about how amazed they were again last night, a week later. Check her out if possible.”[/quote]
Steven McJagger – audience at Bama Theatre, Tuscaloosa, AL
We’ve been touring for little over a month now and gone from sunny Florida to cold North Carolina. I’ve overcome my fear of driving the RV and since Jonas fixed the cruise control I don’t mind driving at all. But there’s still one thing that scares me. What if the RV falls over. Every time we’re on a sharp curve on a highway exit I dread this. Even though Jonas says there’s no chance of that happening I still feel like it could happen.
Me and Jonas in our hoodies in the RV
After spending a few days in Savannah, GA (what a wonderful city!) I decided we had to buy bikes so we could bike whenever we came to a city like that. So we got one off Craig’s list and one from Walmart. For a few days the bikes were parked inside the RV and were taking up all the space we had. Because even if a bike is only $50 at Walmart, a bike rack for the RV is way more expensive. It doesn’t make sense at all, but we had to get one so we did. Only if we were to mount the bike rack we had to dismount the spare tire. So now instead of bikes we’ve had a hundred year old spare tire in the RV. No it didn’t fit into any of the storage compartments. Someone said we should put it under the bed but it’s old and smelly and had dead frogs and moss on it. So I don’t really think it’s going to be useful if we ever come to need a spare tire in the future.
The day after we got the bike rack and put the bikes on it we stayed in the parking lot behind the bar where I played in Charleston, SC and in the middle of the night I woke up of sounds and the RV rocking (you’d think it’s steady but it’s like a boat really). I looked out through the bedroom window and there was a guy trying to do something to the bikes, probably steal them. That’s not really something you want to wake up to. As soon as he saw my face in the window though he took off, but I couldn’t go back to sleep for hours and then I had nightmares the rest of the night.
Me on my bike in Winston-Salem
Everything got better once we came to Wilmington, NC and stayed a night with our friend Majsan. Wilmington is such a beautiful town. Actually all the towns we’ve been to since Savannah has been pretty great. We’re in in Winston-Salem, NC now and it’s beautiful. We’ve biked around the city which doesn’t have much of a city center but lots of beautiful houses. The gigs have all been great too. Sometimes one would wish for a larger audience, but at least the people who’ve shown up have been there to listen to me and that’s what’s important after all. I was pretty disappointed that SxSW didn’t come through with an official invite this year. I’ve been incited the last three years of which I’ve played two. And every time I’ve had to pay for expensive plane tickets and hotels for me and the band. So when I’m finally here, doing a great tour, having a new CD out January 31st, they don’t invite me. But I still have a few unofficial SxSW shows so if you’re going to be there you can still see me play.
