Daytrotter session released today!

[quote] The people in Talvik’s songs are weary, but they’ve also, miraculously, retained the stars in their eyes, those blazing gleams that they’ll be damned if they ever let get rattled or ripped from them. [/quote] – read more…

Sofia Talvik on Daytrotter
Sofia Talvik on Daytrotter

My Daytrotter session is released today, and for all of you who asked about which album the Wichita Lineman cover is on, and I’ve said none – here it is! For all of you who asked on which album the Swedish folk song is on – you’ll have to wait a little longer.

I’m super excited to be a part of the Daytrotter tribe and I hope you enjoy my session. Courtesy of Daytrotter you can also grab a free copy (or pay what you want) of my new album The Owls Are Not What They Seem!

For you who are unfamiliar with Daytrotter (shame on you!) here’s a little description on what it’s all about:

Daytrotter is a website for the recording studio Horseshack, which hosts recording sessions with many popular and typically upcoming indie music acts. The sessions can be compared to that of a radio station’s lounge recordings, where musicians passing through the town can record live in the studio. Due to their tendency to offer an eclectic sampling of music, and their production style the sessions have been compared to that of the legendary Peel Sessions. Daytrotter have served more than 21.5 million song downloads. Other noted artists that have been featured on Daytrotter is Bon Iver, Counting Crows, Fleet Foxes Ani DiFranko to mention a few.

Thoughts about booking a tour

Sofia Talvik

I’ve just started booking my US tour, starting in Florida in December, and first of all I have to say how amazed I am by these quadrillion of music venues. It seems like every café, restaurant, library and music lover hosts concerts. I’m also amazed how many of them are folk venues, or at least host folk music as well as other genres.

Sofia Talvik
My folky me in a backyard in San Francisco. Photo by Shelby Duncan

In Sweden nobody even knows what folk music is, here it’s fiddles and Orsa spelmän (if you all want to know what happened to ABBA after the 80’s). (I guess I’m not being totally fair because people here have heard Fleet Foxes and mostly the folk genre is called singer/songwriter here though I don’t think it’s totally right.)

Once in an interview the reporter asked me how I would define my music, and I answered “americana/folk”. When I read the published interview my answer was American funk. That says something about Sweden and folk music. But in the US, folk music almost seems like a cult. And here I am ordering feather hair extensions tuning my Luna guitar. I will probably fit right in!

Luna guitar
My folky guitar

So anyways, coming from a country that may be small but is really big when it comes to music export (again with the ABBA) I must say that Sweden is a puny country when it comes to live music. I was wondering the other day how many people would actually be confident enough to host a house concert here in Sweden. To actually let musicians and other people into their homes.. I mean what would the neighbors say???

So it’s really uplifting to see how many venues there are to chose from in the US. Unfortunately I’m not alone with this knowledge and I’m competing with so many bands. I just have to pray that I stand out in the crowd and that all these people will find it in their hearts to invite me to their homes, their cafés, libraries, galleries and what not.

And if you live in the US and want to host a house concert with yours truly, get in touch here http://book.sofiatalvik.com!

Florida Spotify Playlists

For 10 days I will make a playlist on Spotify every day with one of my songs from my new album ‘Florida’ and some other songs from my favourite artists. So if you want to hear some great music make sure you tune in and listen. Links will be posted on Facebook and Twitter every day.

If you missed the first one yesterday, you can listen here!

Florida – Playlist #1:
Sofia Talvik – King of the willow tree
Cherry Ghost – People help people
Fleet Foxes – Tiger mountain peasant song
Olle Nyman – Don’t let those bastards reel you in
Kathryn Williams – 50 white lines
Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
Josh Ritter – Good man

Today’s Florida playlist has a bit of a country theme. I’ve chosen some of my favourite artists, two among them are really cool country artists from Sweden, Anton Björkevall and The Tallest Man on Earth! I played at the same venue as Anton on South by Southwest in March and he and his band were great. Check it out!

Florida – Playlist #2
Sofia Talvik – Florida
Ryan Bingham – Southside of heaven
The Doors – Touch me
Anton Björkenvall – Love will always get us down
Aimee Mann – How am I different
The Tallest Man On Earth – Troubles will be gone
Neko Case – Fox confessor brings the flood