Name Peter Morén from Peter Bjorn and John among other things
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Best known for That whistling one-hit wonder! Rocking out more live than on record.
Current city Stockholm, Sweden.
Really want to be in I always dream of being somewhere down by the Mediterranean sea, specifically the Italian coast, sipping espresso and wine, swimming, and eating fresh fish. But my planning is bad for holidays so I usually stay in Sweden and do my traveling on tours. My more realistic dream is going out to our summerhouse on an Island in the Stockholm archipelago, a wonderful spot. Will go there for easter next time.
Excited about Shall be fun touring with Peter Bjorn and John again in May on the nostalgia/classic-album circuit of old aging noughties indie rockers! It’s been ages and looking forward to meet new and old fans.
I’m releasing the second album with my other “band” SunYears in late summer/early fall. Everyone has to listen to that, sounds swell with some personal songwriting I’m proud of and some special guests! Hoping for some shows with that project too.
My friend and idol Robert Forster (the Go-Betweens) is dropping a new beautiful album in May that I produced for him with Swedish musicians in Stockholm in September last year. Will tour with him in Europe in the fall. So lots of stuff going on this year!
My current music collection has a lot of 1950-1970’s rock ‘n roll, pop, soul, R&B, psychedelia, etc. Lots of indie pop/indie rock and the like/related which include, in my brain, everything from late-‘70s post-punk/new wave up until today. Guitar-based stuff mainly. Singer-songwriters from all eras. Folk/folk rock from all eras.
And a little bit of Brazilian (samba, bossa nova, tropicália), different strands of African pop and funk, Indian music, jazz, blues, reggae, classical, chanson/French pop, Latin,
Swedish troubadours (visa), easy listening, synth, disco, some more current R&B and blockbuster MOR rock/pop.
Preferred format I like it all! For a while I put my CDs away in cupboards and in the basement but I missed them so now have most of them available to play again.
I have such a large and varied CD collection, so it felt like a shame to dump that away ‘cause of a format. Also they sound really good! I love CD box sets documenting an artist, a label, a genre, or a studio. I also love vinyl. When I DJ I exclusively play 45s, it’s the best format for that.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
1
The Best of Chet Baker Sings, Chet Baker
There is an important distinction in this assignment. It doesn’t say the BEST albums, it says the albums you can’t live without. To me that’s a big difference. There’s plenty of albums I look at like perfect pieces of art and are astounded by but hardly ever listen to.
But for this list I gravitated towards stuff I listen to regularly and have listened to for decades. Which must mean I can’t live without them literally speaking, right?
My first pick here is cheating in a way. It’s important to point out that this is the CD compilation from 1989. There’s plenty of album titles with “Chet Baker Sings” in them. But it has to be this particular 20 song collection in this exact track order.
This is the most listened to record in our household bar none. Both me and my wife reach for it weekly. The voice, the sound, the great American songbook standards in my favorite ever versions. Flawless! Suits every situation, mood, and weather. First thing that came to mind when asked to participate in this.
2
Bryter Layter, Nick Drake
The arrangements, playing, and aural warmth—but also of course the songs themselves and his voice. It’s depressing and sad in a way, but despite that it makes you feel calm and good inside. Melancholia is my comfort zone and I’m not really special in that sense. I think Bryter Layter is his most consistently strong album from start to finish.
It’s also the prettiest and most arranged I guess but not too much so, everything sits in its right place. It has a vibe that runs through the whole thing. It’s a wooden, early-morning-dew vibe, when the sun is just coming up, sparkling through half-open windows. It’s relatively brief and doesn’t outstay its welcome. If I have a criticism it’s the two instrumentals. They are so-so and a little slight. But they don’t offend me in any way.
A record you can put on at any moment and it always sounds so good. But it’s the type of thing you mostly want to listen to when you’re at home by yourself. Or out in the countryside. It’s a rural record for me. Tim Hardin’s first two records fill a similar headspace for me. I never tire of those either and listen to them often. But maybe those are a bit more urban?
3
Beatles for Sale, The Beatles
People will jump when they see this. Isn’t this supposed to be their worst album?
Well, it’s certainly not their best. I’d give that to Revolver or The White Album. And there are other contenders, too.
After I found them at a tender age I took their cue and went and discovered and explored all kinds of musical avenues and styles that they were into. I have so much to thank them for in that sense. And they taught me about songwriting and playing and singing. Everything.
But when I do want to listen to some Beatles I mostly yearn for the early stuff. Maybe because this is supposed to be less of a great album, it’s less loved, less overplayed, and therefore to me it seems infinitely more fresh. I find myself listening to it relatively often, maybe in some competition with Rubber Soul (which to me is the logical Beatles for Sale No. 2 with the likewise acoustic leaning folk/country/Dylan-influences and similar somber feelings and seriousness.)
I love when they do covers. It shows where they come from, they do it so well in a spirited, original way and their covers have inspired my music taste so much.
So for me an album like this also covers musical grounds that I otherwise couldn’t find the place for on a short list like this. They just sum up strands of music I love in general.
4
And She Closed Her Eyes, Stina Nordenstam
I’m at the age where you’re supposed to start to get nostalgic about your youth. And usually I resist it. But it has come in waves in the last few years. During the pandemic I reached out for older music. I heard a lot of people did. Like a safety blanket. Lately also people I used to know that meant a lot to me have passed away suddenly. It happens in the middle of your life. Another reason to reach for emotions and memories from another time when everything was different. Music is the perfect madeleine cake.
I was 17 when this came out. At that time it was all about indiepop/rock for me. Madchester, shoegaze, lo-fi, Britpop, etc. and what they called “Swindie” (Swedish indie, we had a great scene) as well. But I also discovered the classic singer-songwriters at the same time. Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and more. New female artists were shamefully not something I listened to a lot , especially not if they weren’t part of a guitar band. I did love Bjork. But Swedish icon Stina Nordenstam was so unique and stood apart from everything else on my radar. I completely adored this album and still do.
I loved her first album which was more openly in line with her background in jazz.
Here she hasn’t completely lost that but she’s also trying out different clothes and settings for her songs and it completely succeeds. It’s funny because this record sounds so of its time, of the early’’90s. The drums and pre-trip-hop beats, jazzy keys and slick saxophones and also the indie-guitars at points. Still, I feel it hasn’t lost any of its allure.
It sounds expensive and lush like a million dollars yet still so extremely personal and naked. Of course her close miked vocal-delivery and personal songwriting helps. It’s a perfect record that strikes a perfect balance in every way but it’s also a time capsule.
I can feel the taste and smell of Swedish winter slowly turn into spring sunshine when I close my eyes and listen. The year I turned 18. An important year. Like Nick Drake it’s quite sad but it doesn’t make me sad. Maybe reflectful, longing, and melancholic.
This was voted best ever Swedish album in a Swedish music magazine in 2013. I was among the many voters and placed it in my top 5 but not on top. I might have bumped it up now [if] given the chance. But it was a worthy winner.
All of Stinas albums are great, though this is the best. It’s so sad she doesn’t do music anymore. She’s sorely missed.
5
Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
Talk about perfect albums. There’s nothing I would change here. It’s way more perfect than most Beatles albums. All the songs are 100% in service of the bigger picture, but still remarkable entities in themselves.
Pet Sounds wins because of how “one of a kind” it is. Since I first heard this when I was maybe 11-12 or thereabouts…it’s one of those stone-cold classics that I DO listen to again and again.
Though it’s kind of a complex and in a way “heavy” emotional album, it’s still very approachable and also fun and playful. How do you do that? Full on arty farty, but also short, cohesive, catchy pop songs at the same time. The colors it paints with harmonies and weird soundscapes and percussion and those voices. All in glorious mono. Sixties yes, but also beamed down from an otherworldly distant planet out of time and out of place. Like Brian Wilson’s genius. I’m quite obsessed with the Beach Boys in general. What a story. What characters. And what music. But Pet Sounds is Pet Sounds and I can’t live without it. Enough said!
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