E – Update #6

Marcus and Sofia playing live. Photo: Jonny Andersson

I’m so happy to announce that we met our goal in the pledge and thanks to all of you who pledged we will be able to release the last part of L.O.V.E next week. If you haven’t pledged you can still pre-order the physical CD, T-shirts and other goods up till November 1st. After that the EP will only be available as a digital download.

For this update I thought we’d grill the producer a little bit, so I tied him to his amplifier and made him answer all these questions…

Marcus Högquist recording some guitar
Marcus Högquist recording some guitar

Marcus Högquist, you are the producer of “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” and you are also the guitarist in Sofia’s band since many years, how do you think this recording was different than the others you’ve made with Sofia?
More guitars 🙂 The previous recordings I´ve done with Sofia have all been different from each other. For example, the first one we recorded almost completely live with just two microphones. All of us sitting in the same room and playing together. And for that one we used mostly acoustic instruments. For the following records we have been doing more and more overdubs, recorded separetly and used more electronic sounds. This time I’ve tried to capture the essence of Sofia’s songs and let them guide me toward where I was going. Maybe in some cases I’ve put them in a slightly new context, soundwise.

What’s your favorite song on the EP and why?
I like them all. But if I have to pick just one I’d say If  I had a man. I’m really pleased with how it came out.

If you would describe this EP as the love child of two bands/artists, which would that be?
John McEnroe and Mats Wilander 😉

If you would have had an unlimited budget, is there anything you would have done differently?
I think I would have recorded the songs live with the band in a big fancy studio somewhere in the countryside. We would stay there for a few days and be totally focused on making the best record ever. For relaxation between the sessions some of us would play some tennis, Christian would go fishing in the lake just outside the studio and Sofia would probably get a nice massage.

How come you chose “Lower Case Letters” as your re-make song?
Actually the new rhythm feel of that song came out of a mistake during a rehearsal that Sofia and I where doing for a promotion tour a few years ago. So for the following tour we decided to stick with that new rhythm arrangement and we did on our last US tour with the band as well. Then, when I was asked to pick an old song for this recording I just thougt it would be nice to record it that way.

Marcus and Sofia playing live. Photo: Jonny Andersson
Marcus and Sofia playing live. Photo: Jonny Andersson

What was your biggest challenge as a producer?
Because I recorded a lot of the stuff myself, I’d say being the the producer and the musician at the same time.

Exactly how many guitar tracks can we expect on “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” ? 😉
Billions!!!

What’s your best words of wisdom when producing an album?
Keep an open mind. It might be good to have a plan for how you want the songs to sound. But be open for new ideas during the process and let them inspire you.

Thanks Marcus! We look forward to hearing your awesome creation!

“E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is being released November 1st.

E – Update #5

E - Part Four of L.O.V.E

We’re down to the final week before “E – Part Four of L.O.V.E” is about to released, which means that this is you last chance to pre-order a CD, T-shirt or any of the other items on the pledge site.

All the items are hand made by me and are exclusive to this EP, meaning they will only be available for pre-order and can’t be purchased after the release. All the CDs have hand made covers and are signed as well. The posters are signed and numbered.

You’ve heard some previews of the songs and I hope you like them. Today I’m posting a little video blog from when we’re mixing the song Lower Case Letters. As you know my producers have each chosen one of my previously released songs to make a re-make of and Marcus chose Lower Case  Letters from the album Jonestown.

As usual you’ll get to hear a preview of the finished song at the end of the video.

Sofia Talvik live @ CMJ

Here’s some videos from my performances at CMJ. Thanks to Anders Hjelmtorp and Holger Carlsson at EXMS and the Swedish Consulate for inviting me to play!

Lower Case Letters live at Club Norwood

Wichita Lineman live @ CMJ, The Kimmel Centre


Adam Heldring played unplugged at the Swedish Consulate Party! Good job!

This week I’m singing with Karin Ström

Worldwide release!

In the end of October 2009 I’m releasing my third album “Jonestown” in the USA and later on in Japan. To give you a preview of the songs from the album I have gathered 12 of my favorite Swedish artists who will each perform one song from the album live with me on tape. Every week a new video is released, with a new song and a new guest artist.

Way back in the 90’s I read a book called “Bensin”. The author was a girl my age, Karin Ström, and she wrote about her life in London, as an aspiring artist. Now, years later, Karin has not only released a critically acclaimed album, she’s got another one on the way.’

I’m happy to present this week’s guest artist: Karin Ström
www.myspace.com/datadamen

Sofia Talvik / Karin Ström – Lower case letters

Song: Lower case letters (Jonestown 2008)
Guest artist: Karin Ström
www.myspace.com/datadamen
www.karinstrom.se

Karin Ström was born in Kristianstad, a small town in the south of Sweden. She always wanted to be a singer. At the age of 13 she started writing her first songs.  20 years old she moved to London, where she got signed to the Canadian record label Nettwerk which led her to relocate to Los Angeles. Here, she released a self titled five track EP (US, Canada, UK and Sweden) with lyrics in English.

Back in Stockholm she wrote, produced and recorded the EP “Sneda Ögons EP” in the autumn of 2005, and released it on her own label Datadamen Records. Datadamen (originally Karin’s DJ name) means Computer Lady, and this marked a change of Karin’s sound from organic and guitarbased to electronic and computerized. She also switched languages and now sings in Swedish. The 24th of January 2007 Karin released her first full length album “En saga om en sten”.