Am I the next Jessica Simpson?

I don’t think so, but this upcoming monday the hair stylist that is known for making celebs like Simpson, Kate Moss, Alicia Keyes and others look their best is going to work his miracles on my not so fab, scandinavian hair. I’m not going to make this into a beauty blog (not yet anyways) but I’m quite excited to see just how glamourous I can get with the help from Michael Kanyon. And if you want to see the results too, just turn on The Voice TV (eh I don’t know when yet but probably monday night or something)…

and after:

new hair

Thanks Skellefte

for having us! We loved to play at Trästock, and you were everything but indifferent on my gig! I loved the laidback feeling with all of you sitting around like I was playing in your livingroom.
The door seemed kind of crowded so I hope everyone that wanted to catch the gig got in alright. So thank you, everyone sitting in the audience and everyone working with the festival for making me feel so welcome at Trästock.
/Sofia

My lovely boysA bit blurry after the gig
New friends, Magnus Tingsek and Johan Zaar

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.

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

Little Jesus on a Street of Dreams

Well, we are expecting to get the album in stock around Christmas so it does start to feel a bit magical. But if I thought it was hard work making the album, I suppose I had no idea all these documents were coming up. I've been filling out form after form and numbers and codes 'til I tought my brain was going to explode. But soon it's done and the one thing that is cheering me up the most at the moment is our little bonus project. I wasn't going to tell you just yet but I can't stay quiet any longer haha. We're releasing the entire album in a remixed version for free on sofiatalvik.com. 13 talanted artists from Sweden, England and Japan are each making a remix of one of the songs from the album. The result will be a dancy, cool album, so very different from the original.

A couple of the remixes has already started to drop in via mail and today's treasure is Sweden's own electronica queen Sophie Rimheden's remix of my song Mother's way, Father's way. Me and Sophie had a bit of a disco thing going on last year and wrote a song called Xmas on the Dancefloor. You can listen to it on our myspace site. I think Sophie is a brilliant artist so it was no wonder I wanted to work with her again when I got the chance.

Hope you like the new site by the way, it's still a bit under construction but soon we'll have all the pieces put together.

cheers

Sofia