Tingsek (2005)

My self-titled, debut album was recorded in my friend, Johan Zaar’s, studio space in the industrial harbor of Malmö, Sweden. I spend 5 months, day and night, between oct -04 and February -05 writing and recording it. When my friends went out partying, I stayed in the studio, completely lost in another dimension, swallowed by the magic of recording music.

6 months earlier I was almost finished with my first, first album… I was on my way from my job as a dish washer at, my old friend Jonas, restaurant and I just got this feeling that something wasn’t right. I don’t know where it came from but I felt it so I ran towards my studio… When I arrived, I saw the door kicked in and soon realized someone had broken in and had taken all my stuff. All my instruments, computer, speakers, notebooks, everything. This stuff that had taken me 10 broke ass years to be able to buy.

This was in the beginning of digital recording for me so I didn’t think of making backup’s
(I was lazy and broke) and I couldn’t afford insurance on my gear so all of the sudden, I had nothing! And not even having my notebooks, really pushed me back to zero. Of course, I remembered the essence of a lot of the songs that I’d recorded but I just couldn’t start over with those songs. It was too hard. All that work… I went on a 3 week bender before I decided to start from scratch, leave EMI (they wanted me to be someon else I think) and look for someone else to collaborate with. Camilla Nordahl at V2 records was that someone and she put all her faith in me. My friend, Rasmus, lend me enough to buy a new computer, a shitty soundcard and a low budget tubemic. Johan Zaar, lend me his space and instruments and 4 months later my real first album was recorded.
Some of the songs foundations were actually recorded on tape at a studio out in the countryside with my liveband at the time and Mattias Jeppsson engineering (info under credits) but most of it in Johan’s studio.

Fun fact: That studio was owned by the company that is now my management so the circle has been completed.

One highlight for me on “Tingsek” is Måns Mernsten’s guitar solo on “Then you Came along”1:14- 1:39. He has since then been a very big part of all that I do but not many know that he started as a guitarist in my band. Also, his Rhodes solo on “Mind on Hold” followed by the amazing Pauline’s verse on that same song still gives me goosebumps. But the big highlight would probably be the song “Mind on Hold”, which I think is pretty amazing. Even the lyrics, opposed to most of them on this album…

The songwriting and production was at a crossroad between my previous obsession with country music and Americana (I opened for Willie Nelson when I was 22 btw) and my new found love with D’angelo and everything he took inspiration from. Soul, funk and RnB wasn’t at all in my life before then, except for Stevie Wonder and some of the other classics from back in the day. I grew up with The Beatles, Depeche Mode, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, ELO, Bob Marley followed by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, U2 and Blur. Then in my mid teens, 70’s disco took over my life completely for a while. This followed by a sharp turn towards Neil Young, The Byrds, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Willie Nelson, Son Volt and so on… You could say that I loved all kinds of music that touched me, and I still do

Anyway, the album as a whole and especially my vocals, sounds demo’ish alot and it kind of is, but I will always be very proud of making it in such short amount of time and getting my self back up on the horse so quickly after losing everything. It got pretty great reviews In Sweden and after a 6 month solo tour at all the university’s and small radio stations, I’d got myself the foundation of a true fanbase.
That whole experience set the bar of never giving up quite high, so I’m guessing you’ll never get rid of me. No matter what.

Recorded at Mission Hall Studios and Johans Zaar’s space in Malmö Harbour.
Produced by: Magnus Tingsek
Mixed by Magnus Tingsek
Engineered by Magnus Tingsek, Johan Zaar & Mattias Jeppsson
Mastered by: Hoffe Stannow at cosmos Mastering, Stockholm
Cover photo by: Fredrik Nilsson
Artwork by: Ola Kalnins