Seaside Air -TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET.
Released in March 2016.
TRACK LIST
- The Photograph 8:25
- Seaside air 6:46
- Forgotten garden 6:09
- Snow 4:38
- Billy 5:15
- Dreaming of Vermeer 4:04
- Behold the pilot 8:06
INFORMATION
Music by Stefan Fredin except “Snow” music by Stefan Fredin and Mats Lindberg “Billy” music by Dag Lundquist and “Dreaming of Vermeer” music by Christer Åkerberg. Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall.
Cover artwork by Johan Gullberg.
Cover design by Johan Gullberg.
Arranged by Trettioåriga Kriget
Produced by TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET
Stefan Fredin- bass guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar
Dag Lundquist- drums, percussion, violin, backing vocals
Robert Zima- vocals, acoustic guitar
Christer Åkerberg- lead guitar
Mats Lindberg- keyboards
Olle Thörnvall- lyrics
Recorded at Soundtrade Studios, Stockholm, Sweden June 2015 and Atlantis Studio, Stockholm, Sweden September 2015. Engineer: Mats “Limpan” Lindfors, Assistant engineer: Henrik Gennert
Mixed by Dag Lundquist in November 2015 to January 2016.
Mastered by Peter In de Betou at Tailor Maid Production, Stockholm, Sweden in January 2016..
BACKGROUND
“Seaside Air”, the new studio album by Trettioåriga Kriget, was recorded during summer and autumn 2015 in Stockholm. It contains seven new original songs, most of them written by Stefan Fredin and all with lyrics by Olle Thörnvall. For the first time in the long history of Kriget, the entire album is in English.
Following the album trilogy that Trettioåriga Kriget released between 2004 and 2011, and which formed the band’s autobiography, “Seaside Air” is a relaxed, self-assured album. The songs are very strong, melodic and immediately accessible, sometimes showing their childhood love of The Beatles, but without losing the depth and complexity for which these Swedish masters of progressive rock are so well known. The first four tracks
form a mini suite with autobiographical roots, the following two numbers take off in another direction before the majestic closing number ”Behold the pilot” ties it all together.
“Seaside Air” is a phrase that could refer to the famously invigorating atmosphere of the band’s native Saltsjöbaden, but it could also mean “a melody by the sea”, full of light and colour. A very warm sound permeates this new album from Trettioåriga Kriget, an album in which the band reinvents itself once again, and creates great new music by looking back on its history.
LYRICS
THE PHOTOGRAPH
Music by Stefan Fredin
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
On the platform there’s a man
smiling at the camera stand
and a signal flag is resting in his hand
In the distance, very small
stands a boy who holds a ball
but we don’t know what he thinks about it all
Just around the railroad bend
you can see the smoke and then
summer guests will soon descend
in white and grey
‘Cause their train will soon be here
although it is pretty clear
that it’s now a hundred years
since that fine day
A young woman hurriedly
heading for the grocery
in a large hat and with sparkling energy
But she stays where she is bound
her raised foot won’t touch the ground
‘though the grocery long ago has been torn down
Just around the railroad bend…
Down to the station a bellboy has been sent from the Grand Hotel
He carries luggage until his back is bent at the Grand Hotel
Now he’s on tiptoe in a uniform that’s up to date
Although he’s gone since long ago, forever here he’ll wait
Just around the railroad bend…
Now what is and what has been
still don’t say what it all means
so your questions won’t be answered, so it seems
But the photograph will keep
this one summer fresh and neat
like a dream you might have dreamt once in your sleep
SEASIDE AIR
Music by Stefan Fredin
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
Down by the Grand Hotel
my friends and me
running through childhood days
The sky for free
Painting a childhood sun
above the sea
Here on a shut down track
some flat-cars stood
We climbed up and down in them
as children would
Then when the music came
that changed for good
Back by the waterfront
the windy waves
I breathe the seaside air
of childhood days
– Riding the train to town
Hearing that brand new sound
With The Beatles came the fun
like a new life had begun
Gulls sailing in the blue
girls in the distance, too
while the music that we shared
floated in the seaside air –
This was a newsstand once
with Fab and Rave
We read all about it twice
Then learnt to play
Down by the Grand Hotel
where dreams have stayed
Back by…
FORGOTTEN GARDEN
Music by Stefan Fredin
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
Forgotten garden
in shades of green
Old wooden house
where we´ve once been
An open window
for winds of change
An open mind
when days were strange
In the air above the stairs
the sunbeams turning
In he quiet atmosphere
a dreamy yearning
Forgotten garden
left behind
in rain and shine
Forgotten time
-in the garden
Forgotten garden
young love within
Another day
gone for a swim
The blue green water
Wide seaside skies
The boat that hit you
and music died
The flower fragrance wafting through
The secured agent for a longing
nowhere leading
Forgotten garden
left behind
in rain and shine
Forgotten time
-in the garden
Forgotten garden
the path, the moss
The joy of living
and then the loss
In that garden
you still are
softly playing to yourself
your guitar
SNOW (1976)
Music by Stefan Fredin and Mats Lindberg
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
See the snow come whirling in
from the raging sea at night
See the snow chasing the snow
in the steet-lamps cones of light
See the water by the bridge
black in white a glittering stream
See the studio on the hill
Sculptures left as in a dream
-Just below in the old house
we have gathered as guests
drinking beer, talking music
while I hide my unrest
Flickering flames, walls are creaking
while the snow blows around
In my soul there´s a blizzard
In the end I´ll break down-
See the house grow dim with time
Piled-up drifts, an all-night storm
In the silence we walked home
in the first grey light of dawn
BILLY
Music by Dag Lundquist
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
I was trying to find you, Billy
a day when the wind blew cold
down by the Liverpool docks
where you once worked, I’m told
Afterwards, at my hotel
a city map spread on the bed
to see if you’ve been marked out
somewhere with a dot instead
Play it cool
I remember you say
Play it cool
and you did it your way
but where are you today, Billy
where are you today?
A pre-Beatles teenage star
Britain’s Elvis, that’s you
Your smile was as tough as his
you sang quite alright, too
Now you’re almost forgotten
That’s the way time lets you down
But your statue, I’ve heard
is still somewhere here around
Play it cool…
– When you were young, did you
walk the quays
see the fog on the Mersey rise?
When you worked on the tug-boat
and smelt the breeze
were you dying to change your life? –
So I finally met you, Billy
as a sculpture with arms stretched
wide
down by the Albert Dock
as the sun burst forth in the sky
Yes I finally met you, Billy
as a rocker with arms stretched wide
and daffodils strewn at your feet
while the river just flowed on by
Play it cool…
DREAMING OF VERMEER
Music by Christer Åkerberg
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
And the teahouse is blue
in the Vondel Park
with the chestnuts in view
Practising my art
Finding words that ring true
Dreaming of Vermeer
and his light shining through
in my pale Dutch beer –
Amsterdam in April
and canals with water flowing
Red-brick houses built for showing
Only going where I’m going
in the sea-wind blowing
And the bird-lake is green
in the Vondel Park
where the herons convene
Feeling light at heart
I am sketching the scene
Dreaming of Vermeer
and his blue light serene
Happy that I’m here
At the Rijksmuseum
and Vermeer is on the right there
so you really can’t go wrong
Just turn on the ‘lectric light there
and his light just turns you on
BEHOLD THE PILOT
Music by Stefan Fredin
Lyrics by Olle Thörnvall
Palinurus, are you there?
Can you hear me through the air?
Once a master pilot on an ancient ship
you fell in the sea and had a different trip
Palinurus, far or near
can you still recall the fear?
After swimming for your life you reached the coast
just to be cut down and turned into a ghost
The sunny pines were not for you
Can you believe I was there too?
And I saw the windswept cape that bears your name
where the foam-capped waves crashed on forever same
and I sensed your presence in the sudden rain
Palinurus, can you feel
you’re a shadow, yet you’re real?
With your body left unburied on the shore
while your spirit haunts itself for evermore
The sunny pines…
And I saw…
