track Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Sofia Talvik - Americana / Folk with Swedish Roots

May 10, 2007June 30, 2009

Review from BluesBunny

BluesBunny takes on the new album and gives it 4 carrots:

Sofia Talvik & the Tallboys, Street of Dreams, Makaki Music 2007

“Street of Dreams” is the second album from Sweden’s Sofia Talvik. This album is 13 tracks of quirky love songs that run deeper than they seem.

Highlight was the single “It’s Just Love” featuring Bernard Butler. Swooping and dramatic, this song is a convincing demonstration of the talent of those involved. Not that the rest of the album disappoints. “I Won the First Prize Tonight” sounds like a pleasant folk song but the lyrics are altogether darker. “Holding Your Hand” also sounds lightweight and fluffy but is in fact a touching commentary on the search for a soulmate. Ending on the bluesy “So Good to Me”, she tells us of the search for happiness once more. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Ms Talvik does not give us easy answers. There are no simplistic love songs here. Things do not often work out but we should never give up hope.

Charmingly performed and a fine example of the genre, this album makes for a pleasant and enjoyable listen. We think that a lot of people will like this release. Nothing offends here and you get a nice, warm feeling from it but it does bear up to closer investigation. There is a lot more substance there than the first listen indicates. Well worth tracking down therefore and adding to the collection. Available from her website.

March 15, 2007July 2, 2012

December – mp3 of the month

Salvo Magazine appoints December their mp3 of the month in their upcoming issue. Read it first here!

MP3 of the Month
Sofia Talvik – December

It’s not very often I come across Folk music that’s to my taste. Maybe it’s just a genre that doesn’t really do that much for me, I don’t know. Now, before all Folk artists out there get all defensive and start writing in complaining that I’m dissing them as a collective, please, save your venting, you couldn’t be further from the truth.

You see, although I’m not the biggest lover of Folk music in general, when it’s done properly, like pretty much any genre (especially Classical but that’s a totally different story), it can be stunning.

Look at artists like Gemma Hayes, Kathryn Williams, Nick Drake, Tom McRae or Cara Dillon, with the latter especially being truly sublime. Folk absolutely is a genre that’s both under appreciated whilst also being a backbone to music as a whole and one we must all embrace ‘for the greater good’.

That’s what leads me onto Sofia. We decided to choose December as our MP3 of the month above all other tracks off her most recent long playing effort Street of Dreams as it would be too easy to choose the single It’s Just Love based on the facts that 1 – it’s a single already and 2 – it’s a duet with one of my personal heroes, Bernard Butler, now, that would bias the vote ten fold.
No, what sets December apart from the bunch is that it’s just so much more delicate than the others.

With a vocal range tinged by echoes of Dolores Mary O'Riordan Burton from the Cranberries blended with a light heartedness that in some ways isn’t too distant from Joni Mitchell in her heyday all those years ago, December has managed to remain on constant replay for a good while now and will continue to do so until another track off the album takes our fancy.
Featuring an accent that does at times sound Irish it’s almost unnoticeable that she is in fact from Sweden. Don’t worry. We’ll keep the Abba references to a minimum.

Sofia has obviously been working as a solo artist for long enough now to realise where she wants to get, it’s abundantly clear that she’s working with people who are on her wavelength and are helping her do that

If there was ever a time for artists like Sofia to be in the forefront it’s got to be now, we’ve got others Acoustic Soloists like James Morrison and Blunt pushing acoustic based song writing into the mainstream and whilst we really shouldn’t pin all of our hopes on artists like these, god help us if we did, it is great to see that every now and then artists like Sofia do get the spotlight shone in their direction. 2007 should be the year that spotlight gets turned to face her and we wish her all the best when it does.

I am also green with envy that she’s worked with a hero, but I’ll get over that so don’t worry too much..

www.myspace.com/sofiatalvik

Duncan Buchanan

October 26, 2006April 26, 2018

last tracks recorded!

I'm counting days til the 8th of november. That's when the album should, and hopefully will be, mixed and finished.

Today we added the last instrumental parts, a wonderful arrangement for three saxophones written by Hanna for the song "will you call me when you're sober". Now hold it, I know what you're thinking; "hmmm…saxophones, you mean like early Sting or perhaps that funky sound of Tina Turner?" But I promise you, it's nothing like that at all. Actually the saxophone parts on this album has sort of become my favourite sound. You rarely hear it in popmusic today, at least not like this.

Hanna (who plays the soprano saxophone) brought her friend Nis (who plays the baryton) and I barely had time to say "saxophone" before they were finished with the recordings and out the studio door. I'm so lucky to have such talanted musicians playing on this album, but then again, they're so lucky to have such a great producer (me!) hehe. Just kidding, but it's coming out just wonderful som I'm very happy with it.

Now, it may have been a quick recording this afternoon, but you will have all the time in the world to enjoy it as I'm posting a sample for you to listen at.

And that's all for today folks!

"Will you call me when you're sober"

August 1, 2006December 5, 2006

Tatatatam.

Just spent the evening making drum tracks!

I suck at playing to click track so I need more life like drums, hence the drum tracks. (For you who don´t know what a click track is, it´s a beat that makes an awful plopping noice to keep people play the same beat all through the song, and don´t play slow at first and faster in the end. It makes me stressed out and makes me play off beat though I normally keep a rather steady beat.)

Well anyway, Toontrack has made a fab program (promoting promoting!) called EZ-drummer which makes it EZ for dummys like me to make a nice sounding drum track. You can make fills and all sorts of stuff but I just make a straight beat and leave the rest to Fredrik – the drum master.

This is the only pic I could find of Fredrik, he looks really evil here but he´s really very sweet and he´s married to one of my dearest friends, Anna.

goodnight folks!