Completely unbelievable. I was meant to start the year by moving
to a small town on the finnish mainland, about 200 miles from home.
and about 70 miles from where I went for two weeks in 2007.
The reason? Well, I got attended to an education in
installing and servicing household appliances.
Got it delayed due to different reasons, though.
Spent that month attending my great aunt's funeral,
working and sketching on demos for "A New Era".
Demos that were later locked in the vaults.
So, in the shift between January and February I left.
Kinda reminded me of a tune from "Unhappy Love" (2005),
called "I'll Be Gone".
And wow, what a ride I was in for. Wrote a total of
25 tracks only during the 4 hour boat trip and
following 6 hour bus trip to where I would switch to
a local bus that would finally take me to the studying place.
The fun part was that none of them would become outtakes.
13 tracks were fitted on "A New Era", a try for me
to make a project with a more modern sound.
More radio-ish pop music if you want.
The working title was "Modern Art", by the way.
A project that featured ballads, as well as more
uptempo tracks, all with the same "plastic" feeling
that I used to, more or less, hate after hearing it
on the radio for a decade and more.
Yet it still fitted this project like a glove.
The 12 remaining tracks were written for a project
dedicated to a very dear person, a person who I wrote
a track for back in 2008 and since then had dreamed about
making a thing for, but never really had gotten around
to do. Well, since her name was, and still is, Tilly,
it felt more than appropriate to keep the working title,
which was "Tillylicious". I carried on with the soft
"bubblegum pop" for that one, but also brought in
a little more power. Modern powerpop, if you want.
Didn't include any outtakes and stuff on these two
and to be honest, it wasn't really necessary to, either.
They simply turned into two other projects flying high
in the ranks of projects that mean very much to me.
Even though it's just about two years ago at the time of writing,
I can still look back and think "How did I make these two
so perfect right out of the box?". Well, all went well
travelling-wise too, except for me getting lost in the big city
where I would change buses (turned out that the bus driver stopped
a fair bit from the station due to roadwork).
Thanks to friendly people and lots of support from an "around town"
bus driver I still got to the station in time, and got some sightseeing
on the way. Thank you so very, very much!
The rest of the travel went without any flaws. Started school and all went well
for the first week or two, before realizing I missed the computer a bit
and the writing fingers started to itch as hell. So what to do?
Answer was simple, ran over to the small store nearby, bought pens and papers
and order was restored. Had been planning for a successor for the Songs For Jess-
thing I did in 2008, before a crashed phone put those plans on hiatus.
But now, with paper in front of me and pen in hand, I finally started on that one.
I had planned for one part in Swedish and one part in English,
having sketched down a few title ideas the year before.
15 tracks on each one. All perfect. Somehow the thing grew, though.
First I thought, mostly as a hint to myself, "well, let's up the stakes
to 2x15 on each, then.". But what was there to do when I reached that goal
and still didn't feel tired of it? Finally I simply throwed all goals
and deadlines away and let it take the time it wanted.
Ended up with a project, so emotional and big, it was completely stunning me.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is, so far, and by far, the pure number one
on my list of projects that have really made a mark in both my personal life,
as well as in my writing.
The Swedish part, also entitled "Songs for Jess 2 - Förlorad vän" came out
at about 75 tracks, plus 30 on top of that, plus another 40-something
covers. Of course the English one (Lost Friend) carried none less than 80 pieces
from my own workshop, plus the same 40-odd amount of covers.
I guess I still haven't found out how I managed to do something like that.
Anyway, as that project was finished, it was on to the next two.
Turned out to be an acoustic double when finished.
The first one was a successor to the Fighterproject from 2009.
Named Angel, it was, once again, one of those that featured
a little of everything. Left the most hardcore-rockers out
of this one, though, aiming for a little more soft and laid-back
style. Yet again it just started off with a single track,
written simply as a letter to her, and after that things
just rolled on forward. Ended up with about 20 tracks when all was
said and done. The second one was purely dedicated to a girl I had
spotted for the first time in the school cafe that winter.
Despite its English title, which was "Rickie", it was all written in Swedish.
The only things in English was, as ironic as it may seem, the two covers
that came last on the project. All in all, the final selection of tracks
ended up at 24 pieces. Also this one went in a smooth, semi-acoustic way.
Apart from tempo-shifting and chords, not much differed one track from another.
I guess that was why I made a Swedish, punk-ish project after that,
simply because I didn't feel that the thing I did the year before
came out right, and also wanted to give it another go. Not that it came out
very much punk in the end. Another one of those storytelling in between-
things I guess. Fun it was, though. Made a small thing with four tracks
in English to go with it, just because I wanted to. To be honest, it felt
like the "bonus thing" worked out better than the original one.
I guess that girl in the cafe came to influence lots of my writing that year,
at least if you consider that the following two projects were written
around the same theme. Entitled "Shattered", which was far less brutal than it sounds
and "...and then came love", which was precisely as love-filled and cheesy as it sounds,
they packed another 30-ish tracks that spun around the same "new found love" theme as Rickie.
Although this time in English instead of Swedish. And a little more groovy as well.
Both were simply made as tries to get back to the roots. I guess I succeeded,
almost too much on the limit to become ridiculous.
Ended that spring, and took the summer away as well, by writing a collection of tracks
based around a demo I did during winter 2006 called "Summer Heart".
Wasn't really serious at all, just some crazy throwing around with small phrases
that eventually became something. The summer and early autumn otherwise
wasn't much to write home about. A full-length, again love-filled thing,
two EP's that were written, simply because they didn't had the potential
to become full-lengths without aging too fast, two full length rockers,
inspired by the tracks I grew up with, one with uptempo things and one
dedicated to those powerballads I've always adored so much.
No covers though, except for a medley on each one.
It was the one after those two that really got me letting go totally and focus
on a more-than-anyone-else-kind of project. A thing dedicated to a very near and dear
family member of mine. My pet. Having gained various names, apart from his real one,
like brother, soulmate and, as the title of that thing was nicked from, Kid, it felt more
than natural to write a piano-based thing to honour the absolutely greatest supporter of mine,
and simply a perfect way to recall all the late nights, plucking away on the keyboard with him
sleeping in my lap, occasionally looking up as to see if I was still there, then purring a bit
before going back to sleep. And also those moments with him laying beside me on my pillow
(tried to make a pillow for him and placed it at my feet, he ditched it after two days).
It doesn't matter how much I have had written, or how much I will write, that one together with
the "Jess"-projects will forever be number ones on my list.
Didn't really do anything much for the remainder of that autumn.
A country-ish project called "Travellin Man", inspired by all the miles
and endless hours on the road, going between home and school (dorm) that year.
You know, even if there wasn't many trips, they still took up both time and money,
but also gave me lots of hilarious moments with different people. That's for sure
one thing I'll be having mixed feelings about when I'm finished. Won't miss the
endless hours of travelling, but will miss all the crazy encounters I've had
with strangers during these years. Another one I wrote during one of those
travelling bonanzas was "November Days", which sort of ended up being
part a "looking back" at the town I was studying in, and part a joyful thought
of being able to return home on a full-time basis. Oh yeah, and after that
I started on a project that might give a few laughs.
I made a completely crazy christmas calendar-thing in 2007 that got me so exhausted
that I swore never to do that kind of thing ever again. Well, guess what,
in 2010 I did the same thing. Simply skipping the covers (except one),
I ended up writing 24 tunes and running them as another christmas calendar-thing
on the blog. Only interrupted it for a bit in the middle of December, to publish
a thing dedicated to the fabulous woman that Kirsty MacColl really was.
Never met her in person, only through her music. Still wish I had, though,
even if only for a small split second.
More probably did happen during that year, but the fact is,
it was so crazy and unbelievable, it just felt, and still feels,
like a blank, too good to be true-kind of year.
Yeah, I made a facebook fan page and a twitter account
for this alter-ego that summer. I told you I wouldn't
remember half of the stuff I did that year. The mind still boggles.
And the fun part? 2011 would be even crazier..
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