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.
[quote] This week, area venues will host shows by two talented singer-songwriter-guitarists who have been on the scene for a while and appear ready to have breakout years. Sofia Talvik has a show tonight at PhilaMoca in Philadelphia and June 28 at Chaplin’s in Spring City. [/quote]
Denny Dyroff – Daily Local News
Philadelphia newspaper Daily Local News published a nice interview today for my show at the PhilaMOCA in Philadelphia, PA tonight (Wednedsday) and my upcoming show on June 28 at Chaplin’s in Spring City. You can read it all here!
In 2008 I became the first female Swedish artist to play at the Lollapalooza festival. It was also my first US tour and now, four years later I’ve done a lot of tours and am on my biggest one ever. Since December I’ve done over 100 gigs in the US and I’m working my way towards Chicago again. So when an opportunity arrose to enter a competition for a slot at this year’s Lollapalooza I felt I had to enter. But in order to make them understand that they should book me I need YOUR help. The voting for the competition is live and you can help me by casting a vote every day, share it on your FB wall and with your friends. If I get picked to play I will give a VIP pass to Lollaplooza to one of you that helped me by voting.
It’s been almost three months and it’s about time I post the before and after pics of the RV. It might show that I’ve got a history being Art Director for an Interior Magazine… haha.
As you know we bought this old beauty in FL in November to become our home for the next two years. Naturally we weren’t keen on keeping the turqouise carpet. And when pulling off the old pinkish wallpaper a whole bunch of waterleaks apperad as well. But most of it has been taken care of now. We spent two weeks rippng everything out and putting in new floors, wallpaper, tile, the lot. And here’s how it looks now. For info about each and every photo click “show info” on top right side of the page. And if you don’t want see this as a photo slide you can click here to view the images in your own pace.
“…Not dread but a connection with our past is what we feel, a thread running back to the artless creatures we once were when we first heard the oboe-like notes from the Great Horned Owl. In Paleolithic times, we suspected omens in its voice, heard in it questions we were unable to articulate, but which have stayed within us, incomplete and taunting. We are certain that ancient, taloned bird sees what we do not, knows what we never will. And some night, silent as a gliding feather, its immensity will engulf us at fireside to tell us things we want to know as well as those we don’t. In the shadowed forest we’re pulled by that lurking and alluring ghost and we are enthralled.”Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide to the Town
2011 was a busy year for me. I worked hard to get an artist visa to the US, preparing for a tour that might go on for as long as two years. At the same time I wrote and recorded a new album. Now that I’ve landed in my tour in the US it’s also time for my new album to land. “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” is a collection of 12 new songs. My musical journey started out in 2004 when I recorded Blue Moon and me and my musicians all gathered in a basement studio in Stockholm recording acoustically and almost all the instruments at the same time. After that I tried a more common way of recording in layers, adding instruments upon instruments. For my third album I hired a producer, Tobias Fröberg and for my fourth album Florida i experimented with a bigger soundscape with more drums than I had ever used before.
For “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” I went back to basics. After having done an acoustic solo tour for my album Florida Acoustic in 2010 I felt I was in my best element when I was playing and singing at the same time without the restrains of headphones and click-tracks. So I decided to make an ablum that was the essence of that me. Just something I could record in my bedroom without the pressure of a big production, time and opinions from others. All the songs on “The Owls Are Not What They Seem” are recorded that way. Me – playing and singing at the same time, then sparsely adding other instruments to enhance and highlight where I thought it was needed. My goal was to keep it down and make an acoustic album with a live, organic feel to it. I had no interest in changing the world or inventing something new. I just wanted to make a beautiful acoustic album. And here it is: “The Owls Are Not What They Seem”
You can now pre-order the album here. You’ll get a free track straight away. Physical signed albums will only be available through my website until the release. I also have two special guests on the album; Martin Hederos is playing the piano on “Nothing quite so gentle” and Pontus Borg has lent his voice to “7 miles wide”. Please hit the share button to tell all your friends.
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.
