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.
A couple of years ago I did a complete video Christmas Calendar and every year I release a Christmas single. This year I’m doing the Christmas calendar again, although this time it’s not going to be all video. It will be a mix of Christmassy things, for example my favorite Christmas recipes, songs, special giveaways etc.
The BIG reward this year for signing up you’ll be the first to get my new Christmas single “One Last Wish For Christmas”.
One Last Wish For Christmas
So starting December 1st you’ll get a daily update from me until December 25th if yousign up NOW sign up here!
I’m tracking my footprints, or rather tire tracks, back towards the east coast and will be re-visiting a few of my favorite concert venues and exploring a couple of new ones along the way. So it’s extra nice when Connect Savannah gives me this “welcome back” in their latest edition:
[quote]
Sofia Talvik’s newest collection of songs, The Owls Are Not What They Seem, sounds like it could have been recorded in the early 1970s, when singer/songwriters were prized for their eccentricity, and the striking colors they brought as individuals to commercially-viable acoustic balladry. (…)
On this album, she is clearly in her element. It is a thing of spectral acoustic beauty, and this Monday night performance is highly recommended by us jaded fools here at Connect.
Alabama:The Gnu’s Room April 7th (Auburn) Georgia:The Sentient Bean April 9th (Savannah) North Carolina:Bottega Art Bar and Gallery April 12 (Wilmington) Playhouse 211 April 13 (Southport, buy tickets here)
“…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.
