"From a Dusty Cabinet" features a selection of songs recorded back in 2005-2006, remastered and finally made available to a wider audience. Release date October 29.
Track list: 1) The Valley Below, 2) Ain't No Man, 3) Don't Look for Me, 4) Garragle Road, 5) Easily, 6) Brass Bugle, 7) Drunken Juggler, 8) Swift Like a Dagger, 9) Amd Then You Will Recall, 10) Hold on to Your Heart.
Something of an outlier perhaps, the new Old Lost John release is a soundtrack and companion to a forthcoming short story collection of weird Edwardiana, "This Strange Island, Volume One", edited by Martin Simonson and to be published in English and Spanish by Legendaria books. Martin Simonson is a Swedish scholar, novelist, and translator, specialized in fantasy, gothic and science fiction, with a PhD in English literature. An old friend of mine as we studied creative writing together back in the '90s, he now lives in Spain since many years, and though we haven't seen each other for a quarter of a century, I could not resist when he reached out to me about contributing a soundtrack to a project he was working on.
The track list goes like this, with the stories and authors who inspired the songs within brackets: 1) Call of the Forest (The Man Whom Trees Loved, by Algernon Blackwood, 1912), 2) Spectral Children (They, by Rudyard Kipling, 1904), 3) The Other Bed (Oh Whistle And I'll Come to You My Lad, by MR James, 1904), 4) Pan (The Man Who Went Too Far, by EF Benson, 1912), 5) The Door (The Door in the Wall, by HG Wells, 1906).
The book will be published in both English and Spanish, and I'll keep you updated on when it becomes available. The music, on the other hand, is out there as of today, on your favourite streaming platforms as well as on the Old Lost John website and Bandcamp.
Second video from the new retrospective album "Forgotten Pains", featuring recordings made back in 2004, remastered and finally brought to a wider audience. I was studying religion at university at the time, and biblical references frequently found their way into my songs. Not a believer myself, I've nevertheless always felt drawn to religious imagery and mythological themes for their poetic weight and power. Listening to recordings like this, I feel I probably would have given the lyrics another round of edits today, but overall I'm reasonably happy with the way it turned out. And it sounds great, if I do say so myself.
The new Old Lost John album, "Forgotten Pains", will be released across all digital platforms on January 16. The album contains a selection of songs recorded back in 2004. They were released on short runs of CD-R at the time, and mainly sold at gigs. These tracks have now been remastered twenty years later and will finally be available to a wider audience. Like A Stranger is the first video release from the album.
The new Old Lost John album, "Forgotten Pains", will be released across all digital platforms on January 16. The album contains a selection of songs recorded back in 2004, when they were released on short runs of CD-R and mainly sold at gigs. These tracks have now been remastered twenty years later and will finally be available to a wider audience.
Over the years, OLJ's sound has evolved into acoustic purity with pretty bare bones arrangements. In contrast, these 2004 recordings, while still low key and mainly acoustic, feature atmospheric electric guitars, bass guitar and percussion in places.
Believe it or not, they were all recorded onto four-track cassette and mixed directly to digital stereo files. I find it quite amazing how good they sound after remastering.
Some gigs are special. Hildesheim 2014 was one of those nights when everything falls into place. The cosy venue, the attentive audience, the lovely hosts and the overall atmosphere. I was totally in the zone and delivered what felt like one of my best performances ever. The soundboard recording from that show has been sitting in my archives for over ten years, but I feel it's about time I share that magic night with all of you. “Hildesheim 2014” will be released on Bandcamp October 21, and on Spotify and all other streaming platforms three days later!
On May 27 I will release my new album, "The Far Side of the River", across all digital platforms. (No more plastic and cardboard!)
All songs are written, performed and produced by yours truly. Stylistically, it follows last year's "Shape of Man" quite closely, with a few rather blues-flavoured songs. The "river" in the album title could be the Mississippi River or the River Styx separating life from death, or a metaphor for the line that separates the here-and-now autobiographical from the imagined and fictional.
The video for " Cooling Fan" was shot on location in the swamps of Louisiana during my trip to the American South a few years ago.
Fans and friends! The new Old Lost John album, titled "Shape of Man", is here, available across all digital music platforms as well as directly from my own website. A rather laid back and blues flavoured collection of songs, somewhat loose structures and arrangements in places, and plenty of improvisation. Vocals and guitar recorded simultaneously with a few overdubs, mainly on mandolin. Songs about souls at unrest, climate change, over population, ageing and whatnot. Even Jesus makes an appearance. Well, listen for yourselves, I hope you'll enjoy it!
Tomas
The new Old Lost John album, titled Shape of Man, is set for release on May 21 on all digital platforms. A rather laid back and blues flavoured album with looser structures and arrangements and plenty of improvisation. Alll songs written, performed and produced by yours truly.
Track list: 1) Man from Galilee, 2) Dry Wind, 3) Oh Yeah, 4) Speaking Dead, 5) The Devil Walks Among Us, 6) Love Love Love, 7) Take Good Care, 8) Too Many Feet, 9) Nehemiah's Return, 10) Rise.
Friends and fans out there!
The new live album Back Room Prayer is up on the streaming playforms today, recorded in 2005 in the small back room of Betlehemskyrkan (Church of Bethlehem) in Malmö. This is a rare glimpse into some early material that should be unfamiliar to most fans, at a point where I did a fair amount of strumming as well as finger picking. Bearing in mind this was recorded onto analog cassette tape, I think it sounds pretty good. On this particular occasion I was joined by Eddie Didriksson on second guitar, harmonica and backing vocals.
Hope you'll enjoy it! Take care and stay safe, cheers!
