Restless Soul (2009)

Another album and yet another space to put all my gear in. I grew tired of the countryside and moved back into Malmö with my current gf so I needed a new space. What I found was yet another old office space that was turned into rehearsal rooms and studios, which was perfect… Well it was perfect up until I realized that a heavy metal band rehearsed right above me almost every day… I actually didn’t mind it vibewise but I had to record all the delicate stuff during the days when all other bands, who had normal jobs, wasn’t there. I usually didn’t go there until afternoons for many reasons.

The area was pretty dodgy with a number of scrapyards, smoke choking chimneys, illegal nightclubs (one of the reasons for late starts), the occasional burning car and other wonderful things that we musicians are used to and very well aware of…

After the “Too many feelings at the same time” album I felt I wanted to go back to making music with no schedule or deadlines so that’s what I did. I got totally swallowed up by the making of music. I also left universal and started my own label with my manager at the time, Camilla Nordahl. (She was the one who gave me a chance when no one else did in 2004)

That also gave me a great feeling of freedom and a big self confidence boost and I felt I was on fire. The first song I wrote for that album was “Leave it all behind” I started it with an old Mellotron sample and then it wrote it self. I felt that it needed something though and man was I lucky. This guy from Toronto that called himself, Slakah the Beatchild, wrote me and professed his love for my music. I instantly fell in love with his vibe too, so I send him the song and told him to do whatever he felt like. I left a possible “verse 2“ empty for him to vibe on and when he, a couple of days later, send me the result I almost cried. When he whispers “wake up buddy” and it ping pongs between left and right in your headphones…. Aaaaaah.

This made me instantly invite him over to Malmö and he happily excepted the adventure. We wrote “Something Special” “Coming back to you” and he also laid down a verse on “Stick to You” which was a song I rejected for the previous album. This jumpstarted my album and pushed it in a direction I really loved. More R’n B ish and soulful than I had ever done before. The rest of the album kind of just happed that year of 2008-09.

Like before, Måns Mernsten on keys and Tomas Ebrelius on Violin played a big part in the sound but also my Ringo’ish way to play my shit drums did a lot for that album. I started playing with some new friends during this time as well and one of them, Peter Zimny, took over all the horn parts on both on the album and live. There’s a clip on youtube where we rehearse an old song called “Mind on hold” wich is from that time and in that studio. Also, the clips “Tingsek and friends jamming Stick to you and “playing Good vs bad like it was 1899” is from that studio and time.

Six Years feat Pauline is probably the song that has gotten the most attention. I wrote the chorus part together with Svante Lodén for the “world of its Own” album in 2006 but could finish it. I played it to another friend and producer, Måns Asplund whilst making Restless soul and he said he might have the perfect verse progression for it… He did. I took his little guitar part and it fitted perfectly into the vibe me and Svante created years before. I called my good friend Pauline (who sang Lazy day from my first album with me and did the bgv’s on World of its own) and the song just got wings. Pauline is one of the greatest singers I’ve ever worked with, period and she made this song one of my favorite songs I ever released. Apart from that, some highlights on this album according to myself are; The outro on Stimulation Overload… GMA! Those harmonies are why I make music…

The song Goodbye! I wrote that riff for the Too many feelings album but couldn’t find a way to make it into a song until I moved back to Malmö and it turned out to be a classic amongst my songs.

Slakah’s verse on Something Special… Wow, that calm, soulful and beautiful voice with that melody just makes me as happy as I can be.

Produced by Magnus Tingsek except “Something Special” & “Coming Back to you”,
Produced By: Magnus Tingsek & Slakah The Beatchild
Mixed by: Magnus Tingsek
Mastered by: Mathias Oldén & Magnus Tingsek
Artwork & design by: Karl Arvidson