Music
Press
I I wasn't completely lying yesterday, when I said I had no good new music to share. I have plenty, I just don't necessarily have permission to share it. However, lucky for you, Razzia Records has just given me the okay to post the new Hello Saferide single "Anna" and I have to say, I am grateful to do so. If you've seen HS live in the past year or two this song might sound familiar -- I remember hearing it at Way Out West last year and I would imagine that's not the only time it's been performed. Anyhow, it's an amazing tune and it emphasizes the HS I love dearly: the darker, more reserved side, the storyteller. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Annika's upbeat numbers too, but it's these slower tunes that give her depth and show her range and that's something that wasn't always apparent before her sideproject Säkert! came out. Had I heard "Anna" before "that lesbian song," all skepticism would have been erased immediately. Likewise, I think that other skeptics might be pleasantly surprised by this if they give it a chance. Hello Saferide has always been more than mere indiepop if you actually paid attention.
Look for the new Andreas Mattson-produced album "More modern short stories from..." to be released on September 24. Hot Stuff will be handling the vinyl this time, with a 7" version of "Anna" (+ an exclusive b-side) on the way as well. - Itsatrap.com (Avi Roig)
"A few people might find Hello Saferide, like the best of Norlin's current Swedish contemporaries, too cute for comfort. If such cynics would rather hang out with assholes and imbeciles, well, let them. In the mold of Jonathan Richman circa The Modern Lovers or Rockin' and Romance, Norlin is a gifted anti-punk." - Pitchfork, Marc Hogan
...it could be a big record internationally with its heady mix of Juliana Hatfield and Jonathan Richman and a highly resonant lyric about female friendship. - Record of the day
Cuteness alert!!! "Can you sleep when I grind my teeth?" chirps Hello Saferide's Annika Norlin, who has the kind of idiosyncratic voice of frequently praised in indie guys but less common among girls. Norlin has plenty of summery, upbeat twee stuff, but "The Quix" (from her latest EP with the too-cute title Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day?) is all vulnerable, dorm-room acoustic guitar and handclaps straight outta Mr. Big's "To Be With You" --and this somehow give me a huge case of the warm-fuzzies. She breathes witty life into all those tiny but important early-relationship question marks that people, particularly self-conscious indie people, rarely put into song: Is he clean? Does he listen to the right records ("Townes and Jens with a hint of Ricky Lee")? Does he really like sci-fi that much? Will I have to look at his feet? It's over in two minutes, but first Norlin flips the tone to sneak in something more important: "If I fall, will you pick me up?". Um, yes? - Pitchfork, track reviews
Discography
2005: Introducing: Hello Saferide (vinyl only in US),
Gold ceritificate in Sweden and heavy rotation on radio in Europe and Asia.
2006: Would you let me play this EP ten times a day (EP), Gold status in Sweden.
2008, August 27, new single in Scandinavia "Anna"
September 24: release of the second album "More modern short stories from..." produced by Andreas Mattsson & mixed by Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, etc)
Photos
Bio
HELLO SAFERIDE
"More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide"
(Razzia)
In 2006, everything was happening at the same time. In two years, I'd gone from being a journalist with a guitar my father bought at an auction for 50 quid, to having a Japanese record deal, an English manager and interest from several big labels. All of this happened with my debut album, Introducing: Hello Saferide. Hello Saferide is a shit name but I just picked something in 2004 when I was putting a song up on the Internet and now the name lingers with me, dear to me as a mole on the neck.
That spring, everyone wanted more songs five minutes ago. We were touring Asia, Brazil, and most of Europe.They were talking about how huge this could become. I was terrified by the sudden attention, so I took a time out and decided to make a weird little record in Swedish, Säkert! That album sold gold and won me two Grammy awards in 2007 (Best Female Artist, Best Lyrics). I always knew I wanted to do another album in English though.
During the years that passed, I once again changed my taste in music. What once was a passion for indie pop and twee turned into passion for...well, still indie pop I guess, but the edgier kind, and I had started to accept that the electric guitar is better than the acoustic one.
Finding the right producer for the next HS album was hard. I asked everyone I met who they thought I should work with. I got suggestions on hip producers from all over the world, but no one felt more right to work with than Andreas Mattsson, who not only is the genius behind Sweden's best 90's indie pop band Popsicle, but who also plays guitar more beautiful than anyone I ever met and who is a genuinely nice guy. Andreas found all the right sounds, and he also came up with the most amazing instrumental parts for these songs whose lyrics always have too many words at the same time.
As usual, it's all about me making up stories and singing them to simple chords. This time around, the songs are about losing your virginity (X telling me about the loss of a dear friend, at age 16), about two parents arguing about whose fault it is their son grew up to be a Nazi (Overall), and about how every person is like a song, and you should stick with the God only knows-people (I wonder who is like this one). (And yes, speaking of God only knows, my love for the Beach Boys also came up when I answered to another song of theirs and wrote I was definitely made for these times! which is not on the album, but you might have heard it in a Volvo ad for their new environmentally friendly cars.)
The first single from More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide is called Anna. It's about a future daughter.
"Now, at first blush, a Swedish indie-pop singer/songwriter might not appear to have much in common with Taylor Swift or Toby Keith, let alone George Jones or Patsy Cline, but Stockholm's Annika Norlin does share their genre's focus on good stories, strong melodies, and clear, unpretentious arrangements", wrote Pitchfork about Anna, and I think that's as good an explanation as any.
While writing and recording, we listened to records by: Randy Newman, Carole King, Heavenly, Wilco, Jonathan Richman, Kirsty Maccoll, Lyle Lovett, The Siddeleys. the National. Maybe you can hear traces of them in the songs, maybe you can't.
Besides from Andreas (guitars, piano, voice, etc) and me (voice, guitars), this record also features Jens Lagergren (Thunder Express, I Are Droid), Fredrik Hultgren (Dreamboy), Maia Hirasawa, Andrea Kellerman (Firefox AK), Tomas Hallonsten (Tape), Ceciilia Linné, and strings conducted by Johan Berthling (The Tiny). The album was mixed by Pelle Gunnerfeldt.
Stockholm, Sweden
Annika Norlin, September 2008
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