New album pre-order!

The Owls Are Not What They Seem
The Owls Are Not What They Seem
The Owls Are Not What They Seem

“…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.

What if we fall over?

Sofia Talvik on her bike

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.

Sofia Talvik on tour
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.

Sofia Talvik on her bike
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.

Me, Majsan and Spades in Wilmington, NC

Ok that’s all for now folks!

See you on the road

Picture Competition – Winner announced!

Sofia Talvik live at Södra Teatern 2010

We had a little competition on the night of the release party where all you fans could take a picture of the gig, post it on Facebook and compete for a Sofia Talvik Florida tote. We had so many great contributions that it was really hard to choose a winner.

Sofia Talvik tote

But by capturing the happiness and and ambiance of the gig and by proving that you do not need a professional camera to take a great picture Therese Göterheim made us look twice at this lovely picture.

Sofia Talvik live at Södra Teatern 2010
Sofia Talvik live at Södra Bar, photo by Therese Göterheim

Thanks to all that participated in the competition. You can see all the pictures on facebook.com/sofiatalvik

Beautiful Bass

It’s been a hectic week to say the least. I decided to skip one of the songs for the album (as everybody thought it was horrible except me, haha) and had to choose and record a new one. I decided for yet another song with the word “shoe” in the lyrics and probably will have to rename the entire album to “shoes” now 🙂 .We decided not to put Baby, eeerr I mean Anders, in the corner anymore (as he was forced to be there during the recordings of the last album, that studio simply wasn’t big enough for him and his bass) so we even gave him his own room this time. Check out the video here:

[flv:/video/recordingbass.flv 320 240]

I’m nothing but truly impressed of the way he nailed all these songs in just six hours. We rehearsed a few of them for the gig at Landet and the radio gig last week but there were several he never heard before and he did brilliantly! Even the song “Holding your hand” which he renamed “the Zappa-song” because of all the half times hidden in it. Being unrehearsed may not be the ultimate way of doing it but I must say it does add a kind of nerv that you don’t get if you know the songs too well.

Anyway, next week we’ll be recording Marcus and his guitars, yep he’ll be doing both acustic and electric this time. And I’ll record the last song for the album (no shoes in that one), which I have to do in the studio where we recorded the bass, because I have to play and sing at the same time.

In the meantime, listen to a sample from “I won the first price tonight”

take care now and I’ll see you all next week.

The studio
Me as the true technician.. press "rec" press "stop"... Jonas, behind the camera, did all the real work.
No wonder we had to give Anders a bigger room, we couldn't even fit him into one frame...
It's a kind of magic: the other halft of Anders
Now here's the big picture! With a bit of a distance we managed to get all of him. Isn't it beautiful, well it sure sounds beautiful!