stockfinster is from Malmö, Sweden and consists mainly of Sebastian Borg (a.k.a. Batti) who writes, plays, arranges and mixes everything and sometimes with a little help from his musical friends. stockfinster was some time ago a real band, with Jonas Hult (vocals and bass), Jens Jungmark (guitar) and Ola Strandh (drummer), but they decided disolve the project and Sebastian used the name for his bizarre own compositions. Batti himself is a sound-engineer/producer and co-owner of the recording studio Gula Studion in Malmö, where he has worked with Righteous Boy, Sans Plomb and Tom Levin. Batti is a good friend of the Swedish band the Mopeds and Helena Josefsson, singer in Sandy Mouche.
All Becomes Music, was released in October 2005 by Sutemos, an On-line label from Lithuania. Even though stockfinster has been around for quite some time, and has been rather productive, nothing has ever been released or even submitted to any labels. The album includes ten songs recorded during the last couple of years:
[01] All Becomes Music .. 6:39 ; [02] Ergo .. 5:48 ;
[03] Dismantled .. 4:34 ; [04] Duel .. 5:09 ;
[05] Clark Kent .. 5:05 ; [06] A Crack In Time .. 5:26
[07] Last Report .. 8:47 ; [08] Bystander .. 6:04 ;
[09] Verge .. 5:20 ; [10] In Transit .. 5:53
This is what Sebastian Borg himself tells about his first album:
[01] All Becomes Music .. 6:39 ; [02] Ergo .. 5:48 ; [03] Dismantled .. 4:34 ; [04] Duel .. 5:09 ; [05] Clark Kent .. 5:05 ; [06] A Crack In Time .. 5:26 [07] Last Report .. 8:47 ; [08] Bystander .. 6:04 ; [09] Verge .. 5:20 ; [10] In Transit .. 5:53 This is what Sebastian Borg himself tells about his first album:
"For many years my music was my own personal business - something which I shared only with my closest friends. I liked it this way, because it was a safe and easy way of making sure that my music was heard only by people that I knew shared my taste. Although people who heard it seemed to like it a lot, I didn't listen to them.
Now the time has come to release a full album (or whatever you'd like to call it) on Sutemos. Ten stockfinster-tracks that cover the last couple of years. I feel a bit strange about it all, because I am not used to having my music accessible to the general public. Each track is very much a labour of love, with many hours of nitpicking behind them. I hope whoever downloads them listens to them carefully at least once - preferably on headphones.
Lastly, I have to send out some love to Helena Josefsson (for all the wonderful voices), Ola Strandh (for all the help with mastering), Jonas Hult (for all the basses and vocals), Markus (for the piano on Dismantled )and last but not least, the fold (for writing the melody for duel).
01. 'All Becomes Music' was originally intended as an ambient track with no drums at all. It was because of the wonderful vocal melody supplied by good friend Helena Josefsson that the song took off in another direction. Wonderful feelings above the heart. I did not expect her to come up with the part that she did. She is extraordinary in many ways.
02. 'Ergo' (from Red wood, 2004).
03. 'Dismantled' (from Red wood, 2004).
04. 'Duel' is the only track that I have ever co-written. The main theme comes from a track that dear friend Magnus Hedberg (the fold) wrote many years ago.
05. 'Clark Kent' (from Sunset, 2005).
06. 'A crack in time' has a long history. The chords and lyrics were written back when stockfinster was still a band. We tried it a couple of times but it sounded quite bad, actually. After the band dissolved I discovered that the chords sounded better on the keyboard than the guitar. The rhodes in the intro is actually played by me (fair enough… programmed by me!) When the track kicks in, the rhodes is played by Andreas Kullberg, who is really good - unlike me. The arpeggio in the outro is played by Jens Jungmark . The vocals are by Jonas Hult. The garbled vocals in the outro was Jonas’ idea. It is not just a reversed vocal track – it is Jonas making sounds without any FX’s. Jonas Hult also put down the bass track. Marco Manieri helped me with the lead vocal sound. I asked him to copy the vocal sound on Radiohead’s track ”Knives Out” and although I don’t think he quite nailed it, I am still happy with the result. A lot of people have found it meaningful and profound but I think it's just a lot of nonsense I edited together.
07. 'Last Report' (from Red wood, 2004).
08. 'Bystander' is another really old track. The drum loop was made in Fruity Loops. Jonas Hult put down the vocals in the same session as ”A Crack in Time”. The track was mixed by Ola Strandh who also masters all of my stuff. The outro features Andreas Kullberg on keyboard. He also played on ”A Crack in Time”. The weird drum loop in the outro is actually a snippet of a guy called Henrik Andersson playing the drums (without a click track). He was not aware that I was recording him. Oddly enough, Henrik and Andreas used to be in the same band (Hank).
09. "Verge" (from Sunset, 2005).
10. 'In transit' was something I came up with when I had just got the music software Reason. It literally took five minutes. I played the melodic part while reading a magazine because I wanted the notes to fall randomly and subconsciously. "
Swan Lee is a trio based in Copenhagen (Denmark). The members are Pernille Rosendahl on vocals, guitarist Jonas Struck and Emil Jørgensen on drums. They have released two albums: Enter (2001) and Swan Lee (2004). Last 23th September they tell the press they are breaking up. No more Swan Lee ... Bad news! Remember that their second album was recorded at Tambourine Studios in Malmö, with Helena Josefsson as backing singer.
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