Releases

Per Gessle – Småstadsprat promo single

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Per Gessle’s first single off his upcoming album was released on 17th March. As you could see it in Mr. G’s video showing his brand new album, En vacker natt (out on 28th April), he also showed a physical Småstadsprat single which is for promotional use only, distributed to radio stations in Sweden. It’s a bit sad, mainly for collectors, that we are living in a ”digital single release only” world.

On the promo single’s back cover we can see who created the magical sounds on this track.

  • Per Gessle: acoustic guitar and vocals
  • Lars Winnerbäck: vocals
  • Clarence Öfwerman: piano
  • Christoffer Lundquist: acoustic guitar, contrabass, percussion and keyboards
  • Dan Dugmore: pedal steel guitar
  • Stuart Duncan: violin
  • Helena Josefsson: backing vocals

Lyrics and music by Per Gessle.

Produced by Christoffer Lundquist and Per Gessle.

Recorded in Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

Additional recordings were done at Tits & Ass, Halmstad (Technician: M.P Persson) and Shortlist, Stockholm (Technician: Anders Herrlin).

The single is released under Space Station 12, Per’s record label that has just celebrated its 1 year anniversary this week. All guests are now lucky owners of a Småstadsprat promo single.

Per wrote Småstadsprat on 5-6 May 2016 in Halmstad. This is what he says about the song:

I wrote Småstadsprat in Halmstad in the beginning of May last year when the sun started to shine seriously. It became one of the signature songs of how I wanted my new album to sound. I wanted Helena Josefsson on the choruses and then I met Lasse Winnerbäck at Sofiero in Helsingborg in July and asked him if he wanted to sing a bit too. He liked the song and joined in. The lyrics is about being young and in love and confused and disappointed at the same time. Everyday life in small towns.

 

Småstadsprat

Jag trodde inte att det var sant
Att du kommit tillbaks med samma namn
Det var bara småstadsprat

Jag trodde aldrig på allt ståhej
Att det första du gjorde var att fråga om mej
Det var bara småstadsprat

Ny tussilago
Vid den väg du går
Ny tussilago
Kommer varje vår

Om du hör att jag blivit svår
Att jag har funderat på hur du mår
Det är bara småstadsprat

Om du hör att jag slutat le
Att jag har förändrats och hamnat bredvid
Det är bara småstadsprat

Ny tussilago
Vid den väg jag går
Ny tussilago
Kommer varje vår

Lyrics + Music: Per Gessle

© Jimmy Fun Music

 

Listen to the song on your favourite digital platform! Or if you are more into the live version, now you can choose from 2 beautiful live performances. The one you could hear on Skavlan and the other from the SS12 anniversary party.

Enjoy!

 

Per Gessle interview and single performance on Skavlan

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As you already know, Per Gessle appeared on Skavlan talk show tonight. From the video teasers (selfie; desert island) we saw on SVT’s website during the day we could be absolutely sure that the show was going to be much fun. The recording took place on 15th March and 2 hours before showtime Per shared a rehearsal video from his 14th March get together with the band and Lars Winnerbäck on his YouTube channel (GessleHomeVids), which we hope he will keep alive for a longer time and share even more content in the future.

The first 2 guests in Skavlan were Annika Falkengren (actual President and Group Chief Executive of the Swedish bank, SEB) and Jo Nesbø (Norwegian writer, musician). Mr. G was the third guest, his part starts at around 25:40. Before he entered the studio, some old concert and TV show footage was shown from Per’s early and later career (Gyllene Tider, Roxette, solo) and after he sat down, Fredrik Skavlan, host of the show was chatting with all 3 people, asking interesting questions.

Since Annika is one of the guests, Fredrik asks Per what type of bank client Mr. G is. He says he is a weak banker. Then Fredrik goes on asking who Per was before he became a musician. Per says he can’t remember, it was so long ago, but he thinks he was a shy and lonely guy. Music became his life quite early. Already at the age of 6-7-8 he was listening to The Kinks and then The Beatles.

Fredrik asks Per what his father thought about him choosing music. Per says his father died in 1978, but he wasn’t fond of his musical efforts. He heard one song on the show Bandet går and thought Per was singing like shouting badly. Fredrik asks Per if he would have chosen this career if his father wouldn’t have died, but Per doesn’t know the answer. He says his mother always supported him. His dad died the same day a big article about Gyllene Tider appeared in Expressen.

They talk about Per being called a mom’s boy and that she and Per’s brother and sister died during the past 3 years. Fredrik asks Per what his mother would say was the peak in Per’s career. Per tells she lived with her mother for a long time and she witnessed all the weird things during the golden age of Gyllene Tider, like getting 3000 postcards or fans stealing the drying clothes from their garden. Then it was different with Roxette, it was more of a global thing. But he tells his mum was very proud of him.

Fredrik says people talk about Per as the boss. Per says he is more of a control freak. Fredrik asks if it has always been easy to work together in Roxette. Per replies ”piece of cake” and laughs. He says they started from nowhere and it was a fantastic journey with Marie. But of course, there were conflicts. Per always wanted to work and when they finished something he wanted to work again, but Marie didn’t think the same way. And probably Per’s control freakness also caused some conflicts. Fredrik asks if Marie has ever told it to Per and Per replies he read that in Marie’s book and laughs.

Fredrik Skavlan asks Per if he is a pedant. Per says he is. If Fredrik goes to his home he would for sure think a pedant lives there. All records are sorted on the shelves in alphabetic order, for example. He was like that already as a kid. He tells his friends think it’s fun to push some books in on the shelf when they visit him. Here Jo Nesbø says all guys put the records in alphabetical order but asks Per if he also puts the records in chronological order for one band. Per says no, he doesn’t do that. Jo says then everyone can calm down. Haha.

Fredrik says both Lars Winnerbäck and Per Gessle are introvert guys. He is wondering who talks most. Per laughs and says they sit silent. Then Fredrik asks Mr. G what small town talks (småstadsprat) Per knows about himself. He says he loves Halmstad and he really feels that Halmstad is proud of him. He says it’s always fun to fuel the car. Then Fredrik asks if he drives the cars Per has in his collection. It’s like having a horse inside the house. Per says of course he drives them. Mr. G talks about how it is to drive his Ferrari to the ICA (Swedish supermarket) to buy strawberries. He says he thought a Ferrari is a girl magnet, but it’s not at all. Everytime he leaves the shop, coming back to where he parked the car there are like 30 guys filming his Ferrari.

Per also talks about that since he was 20 he got used to the fact that people recognize him. He can’t leave his apartment without bumping into people who want to take a selfie with him. Actually, if nobody asks for a selfie, he gets very depressed. Then Fredrik comes close to PG and they pose for a selfie.

Fredrik asks Per what kind of car Annika’s husband should buy when they move to Switzerland and Mr. G suggest a 2-seated with no roof. Here Annika tells Per once she was sitting behind Per on a plane and Mr. G was reading a car magazine. His wife and son were sitting on the other side. She asks if it happens often. Per is kidding he is surprised Annika saw them travelling on the same class.

Then comes a little game. Fredrik asks his guests which 3 albums they would bring to a desert island where they would spend a long long time. Jo Nesbø asks Per who he prefers, John Lennon or Paul McCartney and Per chooses John Lennon. Jo and Per can agree on taking The Beatles’ Revolver album. Annika couldn’t really get first what revolver they are talking about, then out of the blue she suggests why not taking Julio Iglesias with them. LOL. Per’s facial expression is priceless. WTF? Haha. Then Annika goes on with Demis Roussos and Per can’t keep it to himself, he says he hopes it’s a big island. Haha. One must love his sense of humor. Per says the 3 albums he would take are Revolver, The Ramones’ first album and Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon. Jo agrees on The Ramones’ as well, but he would take Rocket to Russia from them.

With this the PG talking part is over (at appr. 40 minutes in), but a fourth guest is coming, Susan Faludi, an American Pulitzer winner author and feminist. It’s worth watching this part, too, because Per stays there in the studio and is listening to Susan’s stories, paying a lot of attention.

Then at appr. 53:20, at the end of the show Per performs his new song, ”Småstadsprat”, a duet with Lars Winnerbäck. Lars is of course there as well. In the band you can see Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist, Helena Josefsson and some new faces, Ola Gustafsson, Malin-My Nilsson and Martin Höper. How they perform Småstadsprat live is pure awesomeness! Just magical! H.e.a.v.e.n.l.y.!

What a wonderful and interesting show it was! We would love to have more of this, wouldn’t we?

Still is from the TV show

 

Per Gessle interview by SVT Nyheter Halland

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SVT Nyheter Halland did an e-mail interview with Per Gessle about the new albums and his upcoming summer tour. In the interview Per says one of the great benefits of being a little older and have gained experience is that he learned to relax and not to take everything so bloody serious anymore. He thinks it has never been as much fun to play music as now.

For Per the big challenge is to put something together on stage this summer and to be able to surprise even himself. He has never done anything like this before, mixing his various careers.

Per’s Nashville project has already become a unique phenomenon for Mr. G. He thinks it’s among the most personal and best he has done and so of course he would like people to listen to it. Per belongs to the album generation so he still thinks in making an LP. He had 14 songs with him in Nashville. Normally, 2-3 tracks are off automatically, then you still have a reasonably long record. But it went so well in Tennessee, all pieces fell into place surprisingly quickly and he finished his 14 songs in time. Instead of hanging in the bar, Per remembered he had 2 awesome ballads in English that could fit to do duets with American country music singers. A serious challenge! He called a few friends in the industry and found 2 wonderful singers who were available and it became the icing on the cake of his Nashville-adventure.

However, the length of 16 songs was about 65 minutes and it felt too long for a single album. The options were a double album or two separate records. He decided for the 2nd option and put the English tracks as last ones on each record. Both albums have roughly the same temperature and contain beautiful, gently produced music.

About John Holm Per says he is a real hero. Although they ran into each other a few times over the years, he met him properly first in Halmstad last winter when John played there. Then Per saw him again on one of his Stockholm gigs when John was really in top shape. That was the time when Mr. G asked John if he wanted to cooperate on Per’s new album and John wanted to. So Per sent him his demo and they recorded the song in Skåne and had a few magical hours in the studio. John has a great and generous personality and he is one of the most expressive singers Per knows. According to Mr. G, John Holm does not really know how good he is.

Per says to SVT he’s been singing a lot with Helena Josefsson on his solo albums over the years and he will still do the rest of his life if he may. Many of his songs are written for several voices so it felt quite natural to expand the palette of more than Helena. The idea of ??singing with the other singers felt new to Per and it also gives the lyrics a different perspective. Lars Winnerbäck is an awesome songwriter and performer who is admired by Per, so he was really happy when Lars wanted to cooperate. Per has known Linnea Henriksson for a while and she is an absolutely adorable person and singer with her blue tones and some light jazz funds. All the duet partners on the album changed the songs’ overall identity. It’s exciting and unpredictable according to Per.

Per tells SVT that inspiration and experience can easily go hand in hand. He feels more free than ever when he writes nowadays. He tests different odd guitar tunings, he is fiddling more in the studio, he takes his time to write more verses than he needs, he lets his gut feeling decide most of the time. He feels, slowly but surely, that he doesn’t need to prove much for himself anymore. He thinks he became kinder to himself. He doesn’t have a hit list in sight, no record label to make happy, no major commercial requirements to live up to. He has been so very fortunate in his life that his music reached out to so many and it’s really something one can’t take for granted. It has created a sort of peace in Mr. G.

About the tour and setlist Per says he is – as we all know – a great advocate of short concerts. There will of course be many kill-your-darlings, because he was going to keep the show around 100 minutes. Including hits that encourage spontaneous dancing.

Per says about consulting song choice with fans on social media sitesthat it’s really lovely with all the feedback and all proposals that come in all the time. Everyone seems to have their own favorites. Honung och guld. I Like It Like That. Varmt igen. He says they will test a lot of songs when they start rehearsing and see where they end up.

About the pre-concert playlist Mr. G says he already started to put one together and promises it will be fab. Willie Nelson and Townes van Zandt have to be on the list and little Roy Orbison too. They use Roy’s guitars on the Nashville project. Per knows Roy Obison’s son, and he came to the studio with a couple of lovely old Gibsons he thought would be fine and bless their Nashville dream.

 

Listen to Per Gessle’s new song, Småstadsprat!

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Even if the release date of Per’s first single off the new album, En vacker natt is set to 17th March, Swedish Radio P4 already played the song today. In the radio program, Eftermiddag i P4 Dalarna Med Emma och Martin the hosts talked about Mr. G’s new albums and then aired Småstadsprat, a duet with Lars Winnerbäck. The talking about Per starts at 51:40, the song starts at 52:25! The total length of the song is 3:39, on the radio you can hear a bit more than 3 min, so there might be some surprise sounds still on Friday. Aaaaaaaw! The song makes me even more curious about the complete album!

Don’t forget to watch Skavlan on SVT on Friday at 21:00 CET! There will be an interview with Per and he will also perform Småstadsprat together with Lars Winnerbäck. What a treat!

Per Gessle & Lars Winnerbäck – pic from PG’s Instagram

 

Per Gessle to release TWO new albums

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Press release about Per’s new solo albums was just sent out. Some months ago it was announced that Per would release an album as well as go on tour in summer. There were then rumours that it would not be one but two albums. And now this has been confirmed.

The first album, En vacker natt, will be out on April 28th. The first single “Småstadsprat“, a duet with Lars Winnerbäck, will be released on March 17th.

The second album, En vacker dag, will be released on September 1st, after the tour.

The albums will be released under Space Station 12 (in cooperation with Sony/BMG), Per’s record label which was founded in 2016.

Awesome isn’t it? Article will be updated with more info in English in short.

En vacker natt – setlist:

01 – Min plats
02 – Första Ppis (duet with Helena Josefsson)
03 – Småstadsprat (duet with Lars Winnerbäck)
04 – Enkel resa
05 – Allt gick så fort
06 – Tittar på dej när du dansar
07 – Några glas rosé
08 – Far Too Close (duet with Savannah Church)

Press release in English:

Two new Swedish solo albums by Per Gessle:
Personal, poetic, unique

With three disparate careers in his back – Gyllene Tider, Roxette, and his solo career – Per Gessle is in himself an entire Universe of music. Besides that, he always has a number of side projects going on. Soon he will release two different albums with new songs in Swedish: “En vacker natt” (“A Beautiful Night”) in the end of April and “En vacker dag” (“A Beautiful Day”) in September. And as if by accident, his summer tour is entitled “En vacker kväll” (“A Beautiful Evening”). The premiere takes place in Helsingborg on the 6th of July.

Last autumn, Per and his longstanding sidekicks Christoffer Lundquist, Clarence Öfwerman, Anders Herrlin and Helena Josefsson went to Nashville to record brand new music in Swedish.

“It crossed my mind that over the last ten years, I had spent more than 400 days in Christoffer’s studio down in Skåne,” laughs Per. “So I figured it was time to record somewhere else.”

They considered studios in England and France but were recommended the Blackbird Studios in Nashville. The mythic country capital of Tennessee felt like a challenging choice.

“We went there with no real expectations. I was curious about letting my songwriting meet the peculiar music scene of Nashville that I’ve always been very fond of. I didn’t want to shape the material too much before we went there; I just recorded some very simple acoustic demos. Then we allowed local musicians to influence the arrangements and the productions. The result became amazing,” says Per. “We had the honour to collaborate with some of the most talented Nashville musicians. People who usually play with Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.”

The albums include a total of six duets; three on each. “Smådstadsprat” with Lars Winnerbäck, the first single from “En vacker natt”, is released on March 17th.

“I always find it inspiring to make duets, it provides you with a new angle to write lyrics and it opens up for thrilling arrangements. On the second album, Linnea Henriksson and John Holm join on vocals. And despite being ‘Swedish’ albums, both end with English duets with country singers Savannah Church and Jessica S. That became my homage to Nashville.”

Most of the songs were written after Roxette retired from touring in the spring of 2016.

“All of a sudden my schedule was open, so I started sketching some material of my own again. The records in Swedish are holy to me. The lyrics are really very important, not to say central. They’re about things that we all go through: the transience of life; our hopes, dreams and disappointments; how your era and generation shape the person you become. Each song tells a story of its own. The music is of course equally important. It’s the magical fusion between words and music that makes sure that a song gets stuck in the head and the heart of the listener.”

On the new albums Per Gessle continues to portray the meeting of people – the infatuation, the passion, the glow and the playfulness.  For instance, in “Tittar på dej när du dansar” from the spring album “En vacker natt”. In the song “Allt gick så fort” the ego looks back at different times in his youth; as an eight-years old, as an eighteen-years old, and notes that ‘the avant-garde became mainstream in the end.” It’s personal, poetic and unique.

“En vacker natt” and “En vacker dag” are released via Per Gessle’s new founded record label Space Station 12. Released: April 28 and September 1.