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. Theres 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 didnt 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 cant believe its 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