27/11
Carl-Johan Vallgren
The last time he performed his music in Malmö was in 2018. In recent years, his focus has primarily been on writing, not least with the novel Din tid kommer, which made a major impact, while music was set aside. The new album and the novel Kärleken, which addresses his wife’s death from cancer through reflections on the past, are twin works and represent two sides of the same coin. Both will be released simultaneously on October 16.
— In a way, perhaps the album is the soundtrack to the book, but it could just as easily be the other way around — that the novel is the explanation for the album, he says.
Recorded with a small ensemble and produced by Johan Lindström, the album begins in the grief following his wife’s death from cancer in 2023 and, like the novel, moves across time. The original plan had been to write a sequel to the acclaimed novel Din tid kommer from 2024, but when inspiration failed to arrive, Vallgren instead picked up the guitar for the first time in many years (his previous album release was 2010’s Nattbok). The melodies came easily, and he immediately understood what the songs needed to be about. Soon he realized that there also had to be a novel built around the same theme. The two works then developed side by side.
— I started writing because I needed to make sense of what had actually happened. It is also a farewell, and a declaration of love.
Already in connection with one of his earlier album releases, music journalist Lennart Persson observed that the albums I provinsen and Livet ger oss gave us “every reason to induct him into the club of Plura, Lundell and LeMarc.” A fitting description of an artist who writes songs with both weight and presence — and who, on stage, allows the music to take up as much space as the words.
On stage:
Full band TBA
The last time he performed his music in Malmö was in 2018. In recent years, his focus has primarily been on writing, not least with the novel Din tid kommer, which made a major impact, while music was set aside. The new album and the novel Kärleken, which addresses his wife’s death from cancer through reflections on the past, are twin works and represent two sides of the same coin. Both will be released simultaneously on October 16.
— In a way, perhaps the album is the soundtrack to the book, but it could just as easily be the other way around — that the novel is the explanation for the album, he says.
Recorded with a small ensemble and produced by Johan Lindström, the album begins in the grief following his wife’s death from cancer in 2023 and, like the novel, moves across time. The original plan had been to write a sequel to the acclaimed novel Din tid kommer from 2024, but when inspiration failed to arrive, Vallgren instead picked up the guitar for the first time in many years (his previous album release was 2010’s Nattbok). The melodies came easily, and he immediately understood what the songs needed to be about. Soon he realized that there also had to be a novel built around the same theme. The two works then developed side by side.
— I started writing because I needed to make sense of what had actually happened. It is also a farewell, and a declaration of love.
Already in connection with one of his earlier album releases, music journalist Lennart Persson observed that the albums I provinsen and Livet ger oss gave us “every reason to induct him into the club of Plura, Lundell and LeMarc.” A fitting description of an artist who writes songs with both weight and presence — and who, on stage, allows the music to take up as much space as the words.
On stage:
Full band TBA