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.
I knew I couldn’t be the only Swedish artist to tour the US in an old van! So today’s window is a Christmas card from another Swedish band who also like to do that. Folk-Rock band Secret Circus who are kindly sharing their song “Waves” as a free download with all the followers of my Xmas Calendar!
Secret Circus was started by twins Klas and Joel Åhman in 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden. The maiden voyage sent the brothers bumming around Europe, playing their way from town to town. They immediately discovered that music was their calling and decided to give music their all. They quit their jobs and spent the following year writing and recording their debut album “This is Secret Circus“.
Every year they flee the cold winter of Sweden and spend the season in their studio in Roswell, NM where they’ve recorded most of their material. And on January 18th I’ll be joining them for a concert in Roswell, NM (aliens anyone?) so don’t miss out on that if you’re in the neighborhood. Go to https://sofiatalvik.com/gigs for details.
[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
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.
You know the rat in the pizza myth. So there’s a couple of misperceptions about our tour and the RV, and some of them are so reaccuring that I felt I had to write a little post about it. Everyone’s been really sweet and I know they all mean well and just don’t know better but here’s the most common things people think/ask/tell us about our tour and the RV. It always makes me smile 🙂
“You can stay in our guest room and have a good night’s sleep in a REAL bed” Well, we actually have a brand new IKEA Sultan Queen Size mattress with a real feather duvet in our bedroom in the RV, but thanks 😉
“You should come over for dinner, when was the last time you had a home cooked meal?” Probably for lunch, or dinner yesterday… Actually most of the food we eat is home cooked, in the RV. I actually wish we would have more money to spend on eating out. But we ALWAYS appreciate being invited for dinner, so please keep inviting us!
“It must be nice to have a two year vacation, just cruising around the US! Seriously, that would be a dream come true. But we have to work every day with booking shows, doing promotion, driving to the next gig, performing etc. We work more and harder than we ever had before. And it’s worth it for sure, but it’s NO vacation.
To check out the before and after pictures of our RV redesign go here!
Here’s a little list of weird thing that happen when you are full timing in an RV:
1. You start looking for power outlets everywhere you go and sometimes go through great lengths to get to them
2. You learn how to use a minimal amount of toilet paper
3. You start “pre-washing” your dishes with paper towels
4. You don’t think it’s weird that you haven’t had a proper shower in three days
5. You don’t change clothes because you care what people at the office will think but because you wore them so long they started smelling
6. You sometimes wear a hat to bed…
7. …Or a blanket around your head
8. You sleep in parking lots
9. You download apps that tell you where to find the cheapest gas prices
10. You get obsessed with led lights
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.
