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.
Hurray! Today ‘V – Part Three of L.O.V.E‘ is finally released, and it’s all thanks to all of you pledgers who helped me fund this EP and encouraged me through the production.
This time my bass player Janne Manninen has transformed my songs into electronica pop – a totally new sound for me which I love and I hope you will too.
I met up with G.A.I.N who have recorded the second part of the H.A.T.E saga, ‘A – Part Two of H.A.T.E’. Here’s their thoughts about the project.
Hi G.A.I.N! You guys are doing “A – part two of H.A.T.E” how is the EP coming along? It’s coming along very well. It’s all done and waiting to be released. Niklas Stålvind of Wolf produced and mixed. Mike Wead of King Diamond and bibelblack mastered. From the final result we can definitely say that it sounds kick-ass! We’re very proud of what we’ve done and we can’t wait until we can share the result with the world!
Great! Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves? We’re just a couple of metalheads doing what we love. We all come from different places but our love for Metal brought us together. We all live in Stockholm and we like to go out and have a good old dirty time. It happens a little too often but that’s Metal for you! We live by the motto, Sex, Booze and Tattoos!
What did you think of the original songs when you first heard them and did you think it was hard to interpret them into your own style or did you get ideas straight away? When we first heard the songs we wondered what the hell we’d gotten or self’s in to. It was a little hard to “connect” with the songs at first but after a few listening’s they grew on us and now we like them. We decided early not to listen to the originals that much too ensure that our versions came more from us, so that they would sound like G.A.I.N. Some songs we had ideas for right after the first listen but some came harder. The song that came easiest was probably “King of the Willow Tree” and one that we had to work a bit on was “Glow”.
Which of the songs are you most pleased with and why? Our favorites are probably King of the Willow Tree and The War. We really like the raw drive of the riffs in both songs. They are really in our own style and don’t sound like covers at all. Your way of writing really fitted well into our kind of music. They came out just like our own songs.
What’s your favorite gig memory? Three of us remember on gig in particular. Mr Bandiit was a little too excited and played a bit fast. This resulted in that Gus had to prioritize ether singing or breathing in the last song. He chose to sing… He gave his last bit of energy in that song and as a result of that he ended up taking an ambulance ride to the hospital.
Can you tell us a little bit about the recording sessions and what was most fun with being a part of this project? We recorded everything in Viper Studios. From this experience we learned that we will never record four songs in two days again. It’s borderline impossible and we don’t recommend it. We finished all the rhythm guitars and the drums in one day and thought we were doing very well. Only lead guitar, bass and vocals left right? The lead guitar and the bass were done at about 8 o’clock the next night. The vocals took another 7-8 hours and would have taken longer if it weren’t for the excellent vocal coaching Niklas Stålvind of Wolf provided. We’re forever grateful for that. But on the whole it has been a lot of fun to be part of this project. We’ve learned a lot and would like to thank you for this opurtunity.
What’s next on the agenda for G.A.I.N this fall? Get out and play. The big damn show! This fall we will focus on getting out and bring our music to the masses. We haven’t played all summer so we’re really excited about getting out there again! We’ll just have to make sure that Gus gets to breath. Do you know where we can get a portable oxygen tank?
Thanks for hanging out! We look forward to hearing the songs.
““Santa” has that 80’s music vibe that will make listeners bob their heads unknowingly. Imagine Santa Claus bouncing around with a Mohawk, jean jacket and tight leather pants. It is a cheerful, bubbly and hope-filled piece that will bring positive energy to Talvik’s cause this year.” Read the full review here.
“This year’s single, “Santa (can you bring me someone else this year)”, was just released today, and it’s every bit as good as I expected it to be (which is a relief, because I often worry when my expectations get too high for something). Musically, “Santa” is a fun, synthesizer-based pop song that would not sound out of place on a mid-80s Madonna album. If you’re a fan of songs like “Last Christmas”, this song is a must hear.” Read full review here
Stubby’s House of Christmas wrote in their review:>
“I love this woman. And every year Sofia Talvik releases a free Christmas song, so what’s not to love? This year’s effort is a fairly uptempo danceable indie track, even if the lyrics are the “I’ve been alone since we split up” type. It might be her catchiest yet.” Read the whole review here
Fab Womens Radio has already put “Santa” in rotation and writes on their website: “Highlights? Just about every single track, but why not start with this week’s FEATURED FEMMEP3, a glorious new track from our favorite Swedish singer-songwriter, Sofia Talvik, titled, “Santa”.”
Yet a day in the closet recording a new song. Each time I go in there I’m stunned over by how long it actually takes to do all the takes, chorus vocals and everything. I spend at least half a day just recording vocals and editing them. As you’ve already seen my tiny closet studio this is just a blog and no vlog, but maybe I should call it a mlog because here’s a sample of today’s song for you. It’s called “You plate your heart with gold” and I was inspired to write it after I heard Mason Jenning’s song “Which way your heart will go” and actually thought he sang “you plate your heart with gold”. It’s a song about people posing to be better than they are. They keep hurting others but pretend they have a heart of gold.
This preview is unmixed and a work in progress and will probably sound a lot different on the album when released.
Everytime I need to do something, like recordings for a new album or something. I get this urge to do something else, something that I don’t need to do. That’s how I started doing the Christmas singles and all the other stuff that I do, just me, just by myself. So I guess it was no surprise that instead of going through the recorded files last week, I picked up the guitar and learned the old classic “Wichita Lineman”. Years back I had a brief collaboration with Swedish artist Niclas Frisk (Atomic Swing, A Camp). He was the one who first played me this song and I still love it. So thank you Niclas! And here’s how it turned out sounding in my kitchen…
