Strange Light Music (2014)

Occupying a most tangible presence in my everyday ideas, light and light conditions is to me a pleasant connector to virtually any number of phenomena. It is meant to fill a meaning in relation to the music, to be the vague title on an otherwise unwritten page. Strange Light Music was made deliberately slow to test the patience and curiosity of the listener. It is an EP in songs, an album in playing time. After many years of demo-making, it is my first record of progressive pop. Released on March 7, 2014 on my own label bearing the same name. Cover art: “Gryning III” by Emma Lindström.

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Credits:

Helena Ljungman – bass
Sebastian Ring – drums and percussion, vibraphone and pianopart on Morning..
Simon Stålenhag – piano on Diamond Among the Rocks
Elsa Larsson – voice on Merika, and Diamond Among the Rocks
Sara Tidholm – voice on Morning… and Despise the Loner
Simon Ring – piano on Another Moon
Josefin Peters – alt saxophone on Another Moon
Åsa Jonmarker – voice on Diamond Among the Rocks, Merika and Candy-Colored Moss
Malin Ahlberg – Hammond on Morning… and The Optimist

Kristofer Axén – voices, guitars, toy-flute, some smale-scale percussioning, piano and keyboards.

Ivo Boytchev contributed with some assistant arranging on Candy-Colored Moss. Simon Ring did the mastering.

Produced and mixed by Kristofer Axén. Co-mixed and co-produced by Sebastian Ring.

 

 

The Creek And the Carving (2016)

An idea connected to a concept developed by anthropologist Anna Tsing, The Creek And the Carving is a metaphor taken out of its original context and thus deprived of its original wisdom. Making no claim to profundity, I simply like the imagery it provokes in me. Having my personal little interpretation, the name is supposed to work as a broad metaphor to be filled with meaning in similarity to Strange Light Music. Musically, the songs were picked to deviate from those of its predecessor; shorter, more pop-friendly whilst keeping the progressive dimensions. Read more about the making of TCAT.

The Creek And the Carving was released on April 20, 2016 on the Strange Light Music label. It is available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Deezer, Amazon Music, Shazam, Beatport Pro, Digital, Tidal, Juno Download, 24-7, emusic and Rhapsody. Available in part on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Kristofer Axén’s official Facebook page. If you are a reviewer using Soundcloud, there’s a private playlist of the full album!

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Credits:

Kristofer Axén – Voice, Guitars, Mandolin, Bass, Piano, Nord Electro, Additional shakers, Poul Amaliel – Drums, percussion and shakers, Ninotchka – Voice and harmonica, Josefin Peters – Electric Wind Instrument, Sebastian Ring – Vibraphone and congas, Isabelle Andö – Violins, Malin Ahlberg -Hammond Organ, Lisa Eriksson – Accordion. Additional Drunks (on ‘I’m Certain’) – Introducing the choir En Raksup, in drunken disorder: Iryna Crawford, Wes-Lee Crawford, Ellinor Marcelo, Marvin Marcelo, Kyma Morera, Patrick Cody, Jeremy Marcelo, Anki Axén, Peter Axén.

Recorded at Stable Studios, Eastman Studios (Stockholm), in my studio appartment in Solna and at Huseberg, Tjörn.

Written, recorded, produced and arranged by Kristofer Axén. Mix, recording and assistant production by Poul Amaliel. Assistant production and recording by Nina Ingemarsdotter. Mastered by Simeon Pappinen Hillert.

Cover and sleeve design by Richard G. Lindström from the art work Alikaii II by Emma Lindström and photographs by Nina Ingemarsdotter and Kristofer Axén.