VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Golden Demon
(
Hemifrån)

 

In his liner notes for the 2013 CD release of The Golden Demon, Swedish pop pundit Citizen K describes the album stating, ‘The subject of the evening is the current sense of chaos and transition, experienced in places where stability was supposed to last until the very end.’ There’s some sure fire pop nuggets on the double CD, 24 track various artists compilation including NoCal singer-songwriter Jeff Larson with his bouncy pop track “Satellite Sky” somehow fitting in an what some are calling a modern day protest album, touching on occupying Wall Street, and other tracks that speak of injustice and societal woes in 2013. Commenting on his track, California pop maven Larson adds, ‘That (track) is mainly about longing for inspiration even with all the technology. Simple pop tune. I played the acoustic, 6-string banjo, piano and lead vocals. Hank Linderman on electric guitar and bass. Jim McCarty on drums.’ Some tracks on The Golden Demon are blatantly political including “Occupying Wall Street” by Bob Cheevers. Artists from the U.S., the U.K and Sweden are featured side by side on a double CD set that skillfully combines rock, folk and pop music. www.hemifran.com

mwe3.com presents an interview with
producer of The Golden Demon
PETER HOLMSTEDT


mwe3: Is The Golden Demon a concept album? If so, what was the plan for the concept? How did you assemble the artists for the CD set and what was involved in the preproduction and planning of the album? Were all the tracks cut exclusively for The Golden Demon CD?

PETER HOLMSTEDT: Yes, the album is sort of a loose concept album, and the subject of the album was cooked up during a dinner in Los Angeles in April 2012 by Greg Copeland, my wife and myself.

It's a song cycle about all the changes in the world today: the Occupy Wall Street movement, the rapid changes in the music industry, the economic situation in Europe and the US, China's growth as a leader in world economics, the climate changes, etc., etc...

Most of the artists contributing to the album are artists my wife and I met in California during a two week long business trip in March/April last year.

A lot of the tracks are cut exclusively for the album, while some of them have been lying around on the artists shelves for a while. Everything is previously unreleased, though.

mwe3: Hemifrån sounds, at least in part, devoted to the American West Coast pop sound of the past 45 years. What influence has this brand of American music had on a whole new generation of musicians from Sweden?

PETER HOLMSTEDT: Yes, I'm very influenced by American music from the West Coast, and especially the singer-songwriters from the early 1970's. In Sweden there are a lot of younger artists (Jocke Berg from Kent, Lisa Miskovsky and lots of others) talking fondly about that particular period in American culture. For example CSN&Y, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell and many others.

mwe3: Citizen K wrote the liner notes for The Golden Demon yet he didn’t play on it. He describes the album as like having a transatlantic musical conversations. Is The Golden Demon sort of like a sonic chat-room?

PETER HOLMSTEDT: It is! And my dream would be to assemble all the participating artists in one big room, exchanging songs and stories.

mwe3: The new Citizen K single, featuring the title track to The King Of Second Thoughts is great too. What can you tell us about the upcoming Citizen K CD? What new music from Hemifrån is coming up in 2013 and 2014? I can’t believe it’s only 7 years till 2020! Is that buildup to 2020 a musical concept in the making? (lol)

PETER HOLMSTEDT: Klas Qvist a.k.a. Citizen K, producer Tobias Walka and engineer/musician Mikael Persson are all hard at work on Citizen K's forthcoming album Second Thoughts, so hopefully a release will see the light of day in late 2013/early 2014.

Hey, that's a cool concept! "20/20 - Brand New Songs For A Brand New Time", a double album jam-packed with 20 tracks on each disc, featuring contributions from all the regular suspects; Karla Bonoff, Jackson Browne, Kate Campbell, Bob Cheevers, Citizen K, Judy Collins, Greg Copeland, Anthony Crawford, Peter Gallway & Annie Gallup, Sid Griffin, I See Hawks In LA, Ted Russell Kamp, Jeff Larson, Ian McNabb, Keith Miles, Elliott Murphy, Mikael Persson, Kimmie Rhodes, Sugarcane Jane, Jack Tempchin, Wendy Waldman, Kenny White and Gary Wright.

Gotta go! To be on the safe side to get this out in time well before the turn of the decade!


Thanks to Peter Holmstedt @ www.hemifran.com

 

 
   
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