Don’t miss me on Chicago Radio Monday 23rd!

Sofia Talvik live on UIC Radio
Sofia Talvik live on UIC Radio
Sofia Talvik live on UIC Radio

Tune into Chicago radio show “Noteworthy” on UIC radio (The official Illinois University radio) tomorrow Monday July 23rd at 5:30pm. I’ll be chatting about the tour and might even play at tune or two. You can listen through their website.

After the show, make sure you get on the bus to the Elbo Room where I’ll be performing at 10pm. Chicago based cellist Ian Maksin will be doing a set at 9pm so don’t miss that! We’ll also play a few tunes together! I can’t wait!

[quote]It’s not that I’m a fan of most Swedish artists because they take on American genres I find favor with, but more so how they approach them. I feel that sometimes for such a decidedly American creation as folk and its long association as being music for the thinking man, there is more pressure as an American to create something that lives up to the sound of its predecessors and that sentiment can be all too obvious to the listener at times. That feeling doesn’t come across when listening to Sofia Talvik’s latest album, The Owls Are Not What They Seem. There is an effortless emphasis on melody that is influenced by the past, but never indebted to it. On “Everybody’s Favorite Concubine,” Talvik delicately glides along in a sparse setting that throws a few nods to the 60s and is relaxed in the way in it conveys emotion. Once the background vocals softly come in, everything’s extra creamy. [/quote]

Hectic but Eclectic / UIC Radio

New review from With Music In My Mind

The Owls Are Not What They Seem

[quote] It is delicious, delicate, subtle and graceful, it represents a moment of absolute magic listening.[/quote]

 

Belgian blog With Music In My Mind just wrote these wonderful words about my new album “The Owls Are Not What They Seem”. The review is originally in French but you can also read it in english through the google translate button on the site (even though google translate has a hard time doing the words justice).

Read the review here!

Listen to the album here!

December – mp3 of the month

Salvo Magazine appoints December their mp3 of the month in their upcoming issue. Read it first here!

MP3 of the Month
Sofia Talvik – December

It’s not very often I come across Folk music that’s to my taste. Maybe it’s just a genre that doesn’t really do that much for me, I don’t know. Now, before all Folk artists out there get all defensive and start writing in complaining that I’m dissing them as a collective, please, save your venting, you couldn’t be further from the truth.

You see, although I’m not the biggest lover of Folk music in general, when it’s done properly, like pretty much any genre (especially Classical but that’s a totally different story), it can be stunning.

Look at artists like Gemma Hayes, Kathryn Williams, Nick Drake, Tom McRae or Cara Dillon, with the latter especially being truly sublime. Folk absolutely is a genre that’s both under appreciated whilst also being a backbone to music as a whole and one we must all embrace ‘for the greater good’.

That’s what leads me onto Sofia. We decided to choose December as our MP3 of the month above all other tracks off her most recent long playing effort Street of Dreams as it would be too easy to choose the single It’s Just Love based on the facts that 1 – it’s a single already and 2 – it’s a duet with one of my personal heroes, Bernard Butler, now, that would bias the vote ten fold.
No, what sets December apart from the bunch is that it’s just so much more delicate than the others.

With a vocal range tinged by echoes of Dolores Mary O'Riordan Burton from the Cranberries blended with a light heartedness that in some ways isn’t too distant from Joni Mitchell in her heyday all those years ago, December has managed to remain on constant replay for a good while now and will continue to do so until another track off the album takes our fancy.
Featuring an accent that does at times sound Irish it’s almost unnoticeable that she is in fact from Sweden. Don’t worry. We’ll keep the Abba references to a minimum.

Sofia has obviously been working as a solo artist for long enough now to realise where she wants to get, it’s abundantly clear that she’s working with people who are on her wavelength and are helping her do that

If there was ever a time for artists like Sofia to be in the forefront it’s got to be now, we’ve got others Acoustic Soloists like James Morrison and Blunt pushing acoustic based song writing into the mainstream and whilst we really shouldn’t pin all of our hopes on artists like these, god help us if we did, it is great to see that every now and then artists like Sofia do get the spotlight shone in their direction. 2007 should be the year that spotlight gets turned to face her and we wish her all the best when it does.

I am also green with envy that she’s worked with a hero, but I’ll get over that so don’t worry too much..

www.myspace.com/sofiatalvik

Duncan Buchanan