Sofia Talvik – Americana / Folk with Swedish Roots
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.
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!
Hectic but Eclectic / UIC Radio
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.
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!
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!
It’s the money shot! reviews Blåa Linen Hem from an English perspective:
sofia talvik: new single “blåa linjen hem”.
SOFIA TALVIK makes me wish that I knew Swedish.
She just released her summer single “Blåa linjen hem”. I couldn’t tell you what it’s about. It could be about anything from clubbing baby seals or clubbing with baby seals. Despite this, Sofia ensures us English speaking fans that we’ll love it no matter what we think the lyrics are, and she’s absolutely right in this case. Well, at least she’s sort of right, because I certainly love it.
She also ensures fans that this song is just a sudden outburst of summer, and while it may sound very different from her other music…you should not fret! She hasn’t entirely swapped genres. Fortunately, if she did ever decide to switch up her sound, she could TOTALLY pull this style off. Girl sounds good on them horns.
Any day now I’ll be releasing my new summer pop single! It’s specially written for summer 2007 and all subscribes to the newsletter will be able to download it for free ahead of everyone else. So sign up if you’re not already a member.
For you who know me from last.fm you know it’s already been scrobbled and some of you have been nagging me on where to get a hold of it. It’s called “Blåa Linjen Hem” and is unusually enough in Swedish, but I’m sure all you english speaking folks will enjoy it anyway. So it’s pretty different from all my other stuff, but don’t be afraid that I’ve all of a sudden swopped genres.
This is simply an outburst of summer joy!
If you’re not a subscriber to the newsletter, fill in the form at the top of this page!