The Forest & The Trees

Scandinavia has been a bit of a hot bed for exciting music of late. And that is in no way in relation to its close(ish) proximity to the volcanically active Iceland.  Norway engaged in the exciting credible popular music resurgence with bands such as Casiokids and the likes of Ane Brun and Thomas Dybdahl bringing their already established artistry at home, over to the UK.  Denmark has given us Mew, The Raveonettes and Turboweekend (note the deliberate avoidance of Alphabeat here) and Sweden has introduced us to Lykkie Li, Robyn and Air France to stand in good company along with veterans such as The Knife.  But there are also some hidden gems starting to break through into more widespread consciousness.  Take The Forest & The Trees as a perfect example of such with their atmospherical folk pop offerings emanating from their conjugal bliss.

Joel and Linnea Edin are a welcome inclusion to the category of boy-girl couples who make heartfelt music.  Based in Stockholm primarily, they pen songs with a bittersweet nuance that oozes romanticism and celebrates atmosphere. The music of Pop is what their songs are loosely based around, while drawing in the worlds of indie and folk portraying a mystical and ethereal quality nailed down by Linnea’s vocals.  Its prettiness is irresistible as the assembly of pop harmonies and exquisite melodies makes their music more enduring than most. 

This April saw the release of their debut single ‘To The Forest (I Need Some Piece)’ a welcome preamble to a duo who began writing music together whilst recording a Christmas CD-R for their friends and family.  Clearly this is an effortless union of body and mind that fortunately for us looks likely to be contained within a full-length debut later this year.  

So, if as you glumly look out at the grey skies this spring keeps punishing us with and you need a luscious pick-me-up, head over to The Forest & The Trees MySpace and enjoy some blissful therapy.  In the meantime here is a Q&A introduction to the duo. 

4or The Record: For anyone that has not heard of The Forest and The Trees or your music, tell us who you are and give us the story of how you got involved in music.

TFATT: We're Joel and Linnea Edin, a married couple from Stockholm, Sweden that started making music together while recording a few self made Christmas songs for our friends and family two years ago. Joel has played in several bands since he was a kid, among them Monastir from his home town Gävle and Tupelo Honeys which he had together with his twin sister. Linnea has been singing in choirs and playing the piano since the age of six, and made her band debut when joining Tupelo Honeys as a live member. 

4TR: How would you describe the direction in sound your music takes?

TFATT: Our music sounds like our band name - "The Forest" as in big, mystic and atmospherical surroundings and "The Trees" as in the more close, warm and evident sounds of instruments like banjo, accordion and our voices. In other words, ahmospherical indie/folk pop.

4TR: How do you approach songwriting?

TFATT: We write all songs together, but mostly one of us comes up with an idea for a melody and harmonies, and the both of us develop, arrange it and write lyrics together.

4TR: Lyrically where are your songs derived from – is it from personal experiences or are you working from a story telling perspective?

TFATT: The lyrics derive mostly from our own experiences, but also from people we know or stories we've heard. Sometimes we try to capture the emotion of a melody or a certain feeling with words and translate it into a little story. 

4TR: You have written and recorded your debut single ‘To The Forest’, due for release this month – tell us about this song.

TFATT: This song has had many different sounds before we found the right one, in the beginning we hated it because of a really dull production, but then our friend and base player David Lindvall recorded some viola and weird synthesizers and the song took a new turn. Now it's one of our favourites. The song is about being a person in his/her mid-twenties in a big city, with all the expectations and pressure that comes with it. And the romantic image of escaping to the forest, far away from civilization and duties.

4TR: How was the recording process for you and did the finished product surprise you in any way you didn’t expect?

TFATT: The recording process has been quite long, almost two years. Some of the songs are actually re-made versions of our Christmas songs. In the beginning the song writing was very unpretentious, we didn't have a clear image of how it would turn out. It wasn't until David co-produced two songs with us (To The Forest, Circus Lonely Hearts), that we decided what we wanted to do and in which direction to go. After that, the recording has taken place in many different places; our apartment, our parent's homes, friends homes and our studio Grönskan. But the most productive recording session was when we rented a cabin in the archipelago of Stockholm for one week last summer and brought all our recording equipment. We recorded most of the vocals, guitars, wrote a few lyrics and two of the songs (In The Summer, Hold Me Close...) that week.

4TR: What does the live environment mean to you and what goes into a Forest & The Trees show?

TFATT: The live shows is the best part of having a band! Every night is different from the other, you get to meet tons of great people and the songs get new dimensions and shapes. A show with The Forest & The Trees consists of us, Joel and Linnea, and some great friends of ours, often David, Robin and Simon. When we play live we try to create an intimate feeling but still keep it emotional and atmospheric.

4TR: What or who would be the 3 albums or artists who have influenced you most in your career so far?

TFATT: It's difficult, but today we would say: The Beatles - Abbey Road, all albums with Stina Nordenstam, Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas. Tomorrow we'd probably say something else :)

4TR: You are working with Ill Fit Recordings – how did that relationship arise and what was it about them that made you want to work with them?

TFATT: Rich Thane reviewed Joel's old band Tupelo Honeys in 2007 on the website The Line of Best Fit. When we put up some The Forest & The Trees-songs on MySpace last year we e-mailed Rich, who liked the songs and asked if we wanted to work with him and David Laurie on their new label. We got a real good impression of Rich and David, and liked their fresh and new thinking ways of approaching the music industry. We're happy we decided to work with them!

4TR: You are based in Stockholm so in your opinion how does the music industry there compare to the UK?

TFATT: The music industry here is smaller. There are loads of musicians and artists, but not many places to play in Sweden. Unless you're really famous it's almost impossible to tour in Sweden. We've also got the impression that musicians in the UK stick to a band, while in Stockholm people work with lots of different projects at the same time.

Musically, we guess Swedish music in general is very conceptual, like Fever Ray and The Tough Alliance, while British music seems more band based and not as calculated. Sounds like Swedish bands are evil, ha ha. But I guess we mean that Swedish artists work more individually to create a certain sound, while we have the impression of British musicians doing that as a group. We don't base this statement on any statistics whatsoever, it's just a hunch.

4TR: And finally, what can we expect from you for the rest of the year?

TFATT: First, we're coming over to London for a few gigs in May when we're releasing the album. Hopefully we'll tour a lot this year and start writing new songs.

oxiiofw
Posts: 2

CjSGXLOGoahzE
Reply #2 on : Mon July 04, 2011, 12:49:30

---

kRUI2u , [url=http://zvemdgmbsqaf.com/]zvemdgmbsqaf[/url], [link=http://ikibriachznj.com/]ikibriachznj[/link], http://laclsjxyutbv.com/

Eddi
Posts: 2

DKTZejhDRULRZiD
Reply #1 on : Sun July 03, 2011, 09:29:42

---

Hahahhaa. I’m not too bright today. Great post!

Write a comment

Name:
Email:
Subject:
Comment: *

Security Code: