(And here’s a link to the video on YouTube where English subtitles available by clicking the subtitles button.)
Swedish Radio P4 had been playing the first single from the album ”Jealous Sun” quite a lot in the previous weeks and at one point the radio personality Stefan Livh at P4 Gothenburg commented upon the song, spontaneously calling me ”The Jeff Lynne of Sweden”. He is a musician himself and it’s obvious that he has a soft spot for classic melodic pop. He invited me to come and sing the song live in the studio.
David Myhr and Stefan Livh
But there was also time for an conversation where we talk about both present and past. For instance he asks me about my background in The Merrymakers and our collaboration in the 90s with the Jellyfish frontman Andy Sturmer and how he – to our delight – helped us finishing off our song ”April’s Fool”. I explain how big the whole thing was for us and that this event is now part of Brighter Day… A Jellyfish Story (The Jellyfish biography).
I talk about how we later started to write and produce for Japanese artists in our own Monogram Recordings studio. And the realisation, after The Merrymakers had gone separate ways, that all my songs “suddenly were approved”. “By myself!”. And how going solo opened up new possibilities including calling whoever I felt like, and recording in Nashville etc. We also talk about my Electric Light Orchestra pastiche ”Spellbound” from the Ulf Malmros and Jaana Fomin movie Flykten till Framtiden and why film music composer Jimmy Lagnefors asked me to co-write with him.
I get to talk about my general philosophy of recording and I talk in particular about the making of ”The Perfect Place” and how Andreas Dahlbäck (who I refer to here as my ”George Martin”) helped me out in finding two songs that fitted into one, and how violinist Hanna Ekström had to double herself many times in making the strings sound like a full orchestra.
We also discuss the difficulty in finding a balance between ”loss-making” artistic passion projects and my job as a senior lecturer at The School of Music in Piteå, far away from family and home in Stockholm. And how my annoying(?) commercial jingles like ”Ryds Bilglas” and ”Insplanet” (co-written with Dobedai) are heard by more people than who get to hear my own music, and how they help me out in making ends meet. We also talk about the Lucky Day release party at Brooklyn Bar, Debaser, in Stockholm, and the incredible band I put together for the occasion including Peter Kvint, and Peter Morén from Peter Bjorn and John.
The whole thing was done ”live” and was aired on P4 Gothenburg on May 4, 2018. This video was edited by Todd Productions.
My last couple of posts have been about my latest single “Spellbound” (release post here, gala premiere report here, official video premiere here). But now on Christmas Eve there’s even more to report!
If there’s one chart that’s classic in Sweden it’s ”Svensktoppen” (“The top of Sweden”). As Swedish Radio P4 puts it (in my own improvable translation): “This is where you’ll hear the Swedish songwriter’s music, international as well as national hits in any language. The chart is voted by a statistically chosen jury and is one of the most important benchmarks of Swedish music”.
In any case, the list has existed since 1962. And through the years all big Swedish artists have appeared, all the way from Lasse Lönndahl (who by the way once heard me entertaining at an after-ski in Björkliden up in the Swedish mountains), Lill-Babs, and Sven-Bertil Taube via ABBA and Per Gessle (of Roxette fame) and recently Laleh, First Aid Kit, and Robyn.
Tomorrow Sunday, yes on Christmas Day(!), the ELO influenced song I wrote together with Jimmy Lagnefors for the movie Flykten till Framtiden after the brief from the director Ulf Malmros will be one of three ”challengers” (”utmanare” in Swedish). Not being quite a house-hold name in Sweden (yet!?) it will obvioulsy be difficult for me to “kick out” national legends like Benny Andersson (of ABBA fame!) and his orchestra , Magnus Uggla and new international star Zara Larsson. Things are not made easier by the fact that the two other challengers Nisse Hellberg and Cajsa-Stina Åkerström both are well-known names with great new songs (Cajsa-Stina’s song is produced by my friend and highly respected colleague Peter Kvint who I’ve talked about here and here).
Funny anecdote: My good friend, Andreas Dahlbäck, who plays drums on ”Spellbound” (and who also played drums on my debut album Soundshine), actually plays on both ”Spellbound” and both the other challengers’ songs. For the last few years I’ve always talked about him as one of the key people in the Swedish recording business, and this certainly proves my point.
Who knows what the verdict from the jury, consisting of 500 people supposedly representative for the Swedish people as a whole, will be. But in any case – no matter what happens after Sunday – I will definitely remember this as a ”mile stone” in my career. Or is it rather just a ”stepping stone”…? Time will tell!
My heartfelt thanks to Ulf Malmros for making a great movie that partly takes place in 1973 and therefore had the good taste of requesting an ELO song, to my close friend, Jimmy Lagnefors who invited me in on the opportunity to write the song (something I talk more about in this Hooks & Harmony interview and in this radio inteveiw with Hawaii radio show Time Machine).
I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas celebrations!!! Probably the perfect time (yeah, right…!?) to enjoy the official video for “Spellbound”:
Happy Xmas – War if Over!!! Let us have a Wonderful Christmastime!
From Wikipedia: Svensktoppen (Swedish: [²svɛnskˌtɔpːɛn]) is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 change, the programme was strongly dominated by dansband music.
If you have read this previous post and this previous post you know a lot about my new single “Spellbound” which is a song I’ve written together with Jimmy Lagnefors that is featured in the Swedish feature film Flykten till Framtiden. Now it’s time to enjoy the official video!
It was made by a talented team consisting of Hans Montelius, Nikita Rönning Ledström, and Erik Sandström. The shooting took place on the famous street Sundsgatan in my former home town, Piteå, in the north of Sweden. I spent a few drunken weekends in my youth going back on forth on the sidewalks of Sundsgatan while watching the “raggare” driving back on forth on the street with their American cars, playing loud music. It was they way we knew party life before we were old enough to be let in to the local pubs and discos. Little did I know then that I was going to be cruising back and forth in a ’73 Volvo thirty years later miming to my latest single release. Some scenes were also shot in front of a green screen at the TV-studio of The School of Music in Piteå where I also teach.
It’s out on YouTube here:
And on Facebook here:
I look very much forward to your reactions on both platforms. Thumbs up or down? “Like” or “Angry face”? Share it to the world and help spread the word or keep it to yourself? All up to you of course!
Today The New Yorker wrote in this column: “The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism.”
In my state of a a slight hangover, and with the above worrying news from the USA this morning, I right now prefer to take a little break from the telly and instead look back on yesterday when all our troubles seemed so far away. The thing is I was fortunate enough to be invited to the gala premiere of Flykten Till Framtiden (My Future Love).
There I got the chance the hang with my good friend Jimmy Lagnefors, film music composer, and responsible for the movie’s (great!) soundtrack (available here through my own label Monogram Recordings!).
It was together with Jimmy I wrote my new (highly ELO/Jeff Lynne flavoured) single ”Spellbound” (see my previous blog post) which is featured heavily in the movie and plays when the credits roll. Also present was my new friend, the talented musician/artist Pontus Snibb who co-wrote no less than six songs with Jimmy on the soundtrack. Below you’ll find pictures of the three of us directly after walking out from the cinema, and also at the reception afterwards.
At the reception I also got the opportunity to congratulate directors Ulf Malmros (huge ELO/Jeff Lynne fan himself!) & Jaana Formin, and producer Jan Blomgren, to a fantastic movie (it was really good – go see it!), as well as meet & greet with main actors Henrik Dorsin, Elias Palin, and Victoria Dyrstad who all spoke very kindly about my little contribution to the movie in the form of a song. I also had a good laugh together with side role actor Henrik Kursula and his girlfriend Jenny. Henrik does a fantastic character in the movie and does it amazingly well!!! Very funny guy! All in all, a very fun evening!
I would like to take the chance express my deep gratitude to Jimmy Lagnefors for inviting me in for the second time to help him out with movie songs. The first time was when we wrote ”Vänta inte på mig” (which became my first single in Swedish, see blog post here) and ”Superman” for the film Micke & Veronica a couple of years ago. Also, to his sweet girlfriend, my friend Tia Tuhkunen who always makes me feel welcome at their home and who is very supportive of our music. Tia also made yesterday’s event flow smoothly also after the free drinks were over (including making sure the new ones were paid!). Here’s a picture of the company at Nada Bar where the party continued.
In a couple of days the movie will have the official premiere for the public but not only that. The OFFICIAL VIDEO for “Spellbound” is going to be released as well!!! Stay tuned!!!
On an end note, about the situation in the U.S.A. I would like to quote the first two lines from “Spellbound”: “We’re at the end of time. It’s either fall or climb…”. Please let me suggest the latter! Peace and love everyone!
On the 11th of November Flykten till Framtiden (English title: My Future Love) hits cinemas in Sweden. The feature-length film is directed by Ulf Malmros and Jaana Fomin and stars Henrik Dorsin, Elias Palin, Victoria Dyrstad and Johan Ulveson.
The time-travel themed narrative is partially set in 1973 and for this composer Jimmy Lagnefors was hired to create a soundtrack authentic to the period. When the director specifically requested a song that “sounds like Electric Light Orchestra” Lagnefors brought in songwriter/artist David Myhr to collaborate.
Myhr, with his background in the 90’s power pop combo The Merrymakers and, in particular, his 2012 album Soundshine (Lojinx), has demonstrated a knack for creating fresh, modern, pop music with roots firmly in the classic tradition of McCartney & Lynne. It was no surprise that Myhr jumped at the chance. (Read more about David’s relation to Jeff Lynne here).
Lagnefors and Myhr were also behind the song “Vänta inte på mig” (“Don’t wait for me”) in last year’s Swedish box office smash Micke & Veronica. With the new song ”Spellbound” the songwriting duo has managed to create “”the song that E.L.O. never made”. It features heavily in the film and plays when the credits roll.
The first interviews with David Myhr about “Spellbound” are expected soon. Follow David Myhr’s Facebook page for updates.
Elias Palin (som Svante), Victoria Dyrstad (som Elsa), Henrik Dorsin (som Bengan) Stillbildsfoto: Johan Bergmark
Here is the official video for “Spellbound”:
Lyric video for “Spellbound”.
The single “Spellbound” is released in Sweden, and the rest of Europe, on 14th of October on British indie label Lojinx. (See Lojinx own relase page here).
You can find it on Spotify and iTunes and the lyric video here (and the official video here). It is also available in the USA and the rest of the world on the same day on all digital platforms through Myhr’s self-owned label Monogram Recordings.