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19/05/06

----- Somewhere in the City
Tobias Froberg

Swedish singer songwriter Tobias Froberg began his recording career in 2004 with the debut album ”For Elisabeth wherever she is”. It became highly respected among the critics in Sweden, and was nominated for Album of the Year at the swedish indie grammies. Tobias did two tours together with fellow swede José Gonzalez that same year. But the truth is that Tobias went into the studio just one week after the release of the debut album.

Now two years later the second one, “Somewhere in the city” is finally ready for launch.

– We must have spend over 100 days in the recording studio, making ”Somewhere in the city”, claims Tobias.  There are songs on the album that we worked with for over one and a half years. It´s insane when I think of it, since we´re certainly not after some kind of Toto-perfection. But we are really, really pleased with the result. Our goal was not to make just another singer songerwriter-album, we had other plans. And I believe we got it..

The album is produced, recorded and mixed by Linus Larsson and Tobias (Linus is well known in Scandinavia for producing, mixing or recording bands and artists like Mercury Rev & Nicolai Dunger, Ed Harcourt, swedish popband The Concretes, Anna Ternheim and many more). On this album, Linus and Tobias plays all the instruments themselves, exept from guest appearances from two of their good friends, Teitur and Ane Brun.

----- The songs on the album, with comments from Tobias:

When the night turns cold
– It´s actually two songs that I compressed into one. We wanted the middle section, or the bridge, to sound completely different from the rest of the song, like the odd part in Simon and Garfunkel´s ”You don´t know where your interests lies” from the Bookends-sessions.

Love and misery a duet with Ane Brun.
– I planned to sing the other vocal vocal part myself. But when I played the song to Ane, she loved it and wanted to sing on it. I´m so glad she did. When she enters, the song really takes off. She has one of the most beautiful voices in the world, if you ask me. We recorded it in my apartment. This song is one of ten on And Brun´s beautiful Duets-album.

God´s highway
– I wrote that song in a guitar store, trying an old guitar. Immediately I heard two lead-vocals, the vocal arrangements came to me in that store.

For Elisabeth wherever you are featuring Teitur.
– On my first album, almost every song is about this Elisabeth so I had to make a sequel. I love the way Teitur is singing the backing vocals, and the way he plays the piano. Me and Linus worked with this song for one and a half year, so you could really say it was a real bitch. The only thing left from the original mix is Linus´ handclaps in the chorus.

The features of a human face
– Recorded under open air in the middle of a hot day in July. If you listen carefully, you can hear birds, crickets, trees in the wind and an aeroplane.

Somewhere in the city
– I co-wrote this song with Teitur. We began writing it in Stockholm, carried on in Aberdeen and finished it in London. Me and Linus recorded it after two bottles of red wine. To this day, I don´t have a clue how I came up with that guitar-riff, and how I could play it that way. It´s pretty complex, actually.

What a day
– A happy song.  We recorded the bass and guitar, together with the drums, in the key of A, but slowed it down to G by reducing the speed of the tapemachine.

Oh my love (here she comes again)
– Recorded in my sofa just one week before we mastered the album. Overdubbed with a bunch of old keyboards, including my old Mini Moog.

Someone
– Suddenly, there was a Vibraphone in the recording studio. Me and Linus had to try it, so the very first time we played this instrument, we recorded a four hand take. Then we overdubbed it.

Thank you
– I wrote it the morning after a midsummer party, while walking around in a beautiful city early in the morning. Recorded just after Somewhere in the city. Linus hurt his back while showing me his old playgrund from his childhood, and so he had to lay down on a mattress while playing one of the acoustic guitars.

Forever is just a word in a lovesong
– Recorded live with Linus behind the drums and myself at the piano. We miked the piano through an old Vox amplifier. It´s a good song to close this album with. You can almost see the credits rolling in front of you, like a movie.

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