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.
Don Draper went for Jaguar. I’m going for Dodge and YOU can help me. So what do you have to do?
Well just accept my humble gift of a free download of my song King of the Willow Tree from my Florida album!
Already have it? Well, you can always give it to a friend. The nice thing is that all you have to do is download it and that will count as a vote towards getting it in to a Dodge commercial, so that many more people get to hear it. You don’t have to keep voting every day and stupid stuff like that, download the song HERE and you’re a song richer as well as having helped your favorite artist (that would be me) out. Not bad huh?!
I’m actually one of 500 hand picked artist to be a part of this challenge so that alone is a great thing!
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.
The lovely as always Bluesbunny has written a nice little piece about my new EP ‘O – part two of L.O.V.E’ and given me four carrots to snack on! Thanks Bluesbunny!
[quote]
O – Part Two of L.O.V.E” by Sofia Talvik is, as the title suggests, the second part in a series of fan funded EPs by one of the most affecting Swedish singer songwriters to cross the threshold here at Bluesbunny Towers.
It could easily be said that there are no surprises here but you should not take that as a criticism as I simply mean that this EP maintains the high standards that we have come to expect of Ms Talvik. The songs might well play out like four more rounds in the boxing ring of life and that actually made for an interesting, if not entirely unexpected for connoisseurs of female endeavour in the world of pop music, conclusion.
Sure enough, “Glow” easily charms with clever urban metaphors and hushed background vocals but it is “Awfully Aware” that engages the mind. I happened to be rummaging through the vinyl archives here and I came across an album by Janis Ian called “Aftertones” from 1975 (when Ms Ian would have been of similar age to Ms Talvik) and was struck by the similarities. Both are clearly intelligent songwriters with similar lyrical motivations and it was easy to draw parallels between the aforementioned “Awfully Aware” and Ms Ian’s “”Boy I Really Tied One On”. I think that speaks highly of Ms Talvik’s abilities as a very human songwriter which is further reinforced by the cool realism expressed in “The War”.
Rounding off this EP is “King Of The Willow Tree” previously featured on her album “Florida” but here receiving a minor makeover with added synths and spaghetti western moments but otherwise little altered . Possessed of both intelligence and charm, Sofia Talvik proves, once again, that music can engage mind, body and soul at the same time. [/quote]
O -part two of L.O.V.E is being released June 6th and we chained the producer to the wall for a while to get the truth out of him about the new EP…
Hi Joakim Lundgren, producer of “O – part two of L.O.V.E”! You’re the second producer in line to write a chapter in our book of L.O.V.E, how do you feel the progress has been so far? Good! We’re done with mixing and mastering and I hope that it will spread like wild fire and be much appreciated.
What was your main inspiration for the sound of this EP? I wanted to make a totally synthetic sound image around Sofias straight melodys and her clear voice, making an EP with almost no live elements but with big syntheseizers and plick plock drums …
… since that didnt happened at all, I wound up with the complete opposite. I still think the melodys are surrounded by big things in a good way, but Its all with guitars and piano instead of synths. The way the songs sounded to me, this was the natural way to record it.
What do you do when you’re not producing Sofia Talvik EPs? I play the drums, teach youngsters in music programs and drums and I recently found a very nice music studio to be in, since then I’ve been doing some producing and recording.
How do you feel that this EP will be different from Sofia’s previous albums? It’s Louder.
Which is your favorite of the four songs and why? ”King of the willow tree”. It’s a simple and beautiful melody with lyrics that reminds me of my sami-childhood on the great plains of Lappland.
If this would be a soundtrack to a movie, which movie would that be? ”For a few dollars more”
What is your favorite part of producing music? When your listen to a melody of something for the first time, you have so many directions, tempos and ways to begin doing things. I like the part when you just decide the way, based on guts instead of bad influences.
Tell us your favorite songs right now. ”Wichita Lineman” Tony Joe Whites version ”Gubben i lådan” Daniel Adams Ray
Thanks for the chat! We really look forward to hearing the result! Thank you!
Dagens skiva has written a nice review of my new album “Florida” and given it a 7 out of 10.
Lou Reed–introt på King Of The Willow Tree är grymt. Det lätta sättet Talvik sjunger på. Osäker i stämband men bestämd i gärning. Det tar 30 sekunder att fånga mig. (…) Dessutom är The Light är det vackraste i musikväg som 2010 fått fram hitintills.
“The Lou Reed intro of “King of the Willow Tree” is awesome. The lighthearted way Talvik sings. Unsure in vocal chords but firm in determination. It takes 30 seconds and I’m caught. Not to mention that “The Light” is the most beautiful 2010 has presented so far.”
