Kjellvander, Christian
A Village: Natural Light
"A Village: Natural Light" is an album about living, loving and dying. When I listen to these songs I think about how important it is to really live your life. You know the songs that make you dream about places far far away and how they give you that urge to get up and get out? Not this time . These songs right here are about staying and riding it out. Create a life of your own, surround yourself with good people, don't let bastards get you down and make the most of what you got. Make sure to love. Look at your wife. Love her. Love her like crazy. Fight the battles. Stick to it. Look at your children. You made them. Hold them close and set them free. Christian told me that he had started working part-time in a cemetery in a small Swedish village while writing these songs because he wanted to get the realest job he could and let it bleed into his songs. Make something that truly sounded like where he was right now . in a village, like a microcosm of the world we live in today facing life and death. This leads me to thinking about the beauty in mourning and how it's an important part of life. I think about how we isolate ourselves from other people and how it takes away our reasons to mourn. Without love in our lives there will be no mourning. This is what I'm getting out of these songs. A mixture of genuine happiness, sadness and appreciation. The album was recorded at Christian's old church in Osteraker by Ruben Engzell. The band really made the most out of that beautiful sounding room and passed on those impressive sounding tracks to Craig Schumacher who took things even further and created truly one of a kind mixes. These mixes got sent to the amazing JJ Golden at Golden Mastering which leads us to the album you should be listening to now. A truly great album by a truly great artist who has been releasing nothing but great albums since the late 90s. This one right here is my favorite, though. I hope you will love it, too! "Forget me when I'm gone. I was never here". That line is from Riders in the Rain. All I can say is: good luck with that, buddy. These songs of yours will live forever! (Henry Toft)