Lena Swanberg

Lena Swanberg's background is in the jazz scene. Her debut album moves within those special boundaries between dramatic pop with singer-songwriter and fantasy-like soundscapes. This is the type of territories that Kate Bush, Jane Siberry, Talk Talk and sometime - Rickie Lee Jones usually explore.
Some harmonies lean towards pop music while others towards jazz and blues. In some moments it even leans towards classical. Sometimes there are mystical subtleties that lead one to think of Nina Simone if she would be a 29 year old Swedish girl.
By all rights have Lena Swanberg and her producer Göran Petersson (who has earlier produced Sofia Karlsson and Jeanette Lindström) created their very own musical universe that one can be completely fascinating with.
Lena Swanberg is from Bollnäs, Sweden in the north east costal region of Sweden. Music was always a part of her home and upbringing. Her parents felt that Lena and her sister should play violin from the age of six. But Lena found it was slightly boring, struggling with sheet music when she really wanted to make her own music.
"Yes, there a few "hits" written then", Lena laughs. "Like "Bicycle Song" and a Russian inspired thing, both recorded on cassette tape."
Jazz and classical music were the styles that dominated on her home front.
"I missed Madonna and many others unfortunately." However, she discovered her way of expressing herself and she found her own unique voice. "I believe that I simply felt it was fun to sing. Of course there was an underlying desire to be seen and heard as well" Lena says.
Lena began singing in a big band. She went to high school without any musical direction except music drama. Jazz was introduced when she continued her studies in a college located in the countryside and it made a big impression on her.
"I really love jazz. However it is a little comical with a 20 year old running around in the woods singing 1940 evergreen standards." Lena said. It became quite a closed world with very clear rules to abide. Nevertheless, what she got out of it was a discipline for timing, expression and voice control. During this time, Lena's sources of inspiration were the big international and Swedish female jazz vocalists and instrumentalists.
After a couple of years at the Royal College of Music, Lena decided to disregard the norms of Jazz and reach out and find her own expression and to overcome her own perfectionism and try not to think about the end result. She noticed then how other more flexible influences sneaked in.
"There is always a little devil on my shoulder: the schooled Lena who tries to be objective and blocks my striving for a more free thinking style."
The demo recording which found its way to the producer Göran Petersson is the first and only demo she has ever given a record company. This resulted in record contract right away.
"If I think of how many people struggle and send demos regularly to record companies, I can feel a touch of guilty conscience for how easily and quickly I broke through. But on the other hand, I spent much more time than most on the song writing, and questioning all that I did. But that is how I roll: I dig myself into the process and then it moves along easier. I believe I have fallen for the myth of the disenchanted artist".
"When I fell in love, I believed whole heartedly that I would not be able to compose more music. But I obviously found out that I could. Today, I know I can reach that same zone where creativeness grows."
And this is true.
Lena is still unknown to a wider public except for the fact that she was awarded the Monica Zetterlund scholarship which she accepted in 2009.
"Ideally it would be unfair to call my debut album for Jazz. If people bought it thinking it was a pure traditional jazz album they would be disappointed," laughs Lena.
The songs on Lena's debut album existed in some sort of programmed electronica form in her computer. The basic tracks where recorded with Jazz trio (Joakim Simonsson, Martin Östholm, Gustav Nahlin) before Lena and Göran took hold of the songs and moved them in another direction.
"We had time to add all those little details, instrumentations and harmonies. Before the computer entered the world of music production, this album would have taken twelve years to complete," Lena smiles. .
If one listens with an open mind then one will hear so much more on "The Art Of Staying Young And Unhurt". Her jazz background is there but the songs are deeper and have so much more depth to them. There is something that resonates throughout the night when the telephone has gone quiet and one can hear the influences of many rich styles. Listen to the careful longing on "Breakthrough" the sensual feeling in the ballad called "Lover" (a duet with Christian Kjellvander) and the driving pop intensity on "Second Start" or the "symphonic folk" track "Dream On" which is co-written with jazz guitarist Joel Sahlin.
Lena has from time to time concentrated on singing more traditional jazz with a piano trio or in the big band format.
"There is still that sentimental side of me that I constantly try to express. But then I remember the most important thing; to reach the listener and communicate via your own music. To get the confirmation that you have touched someone. But it has to be done with music that I want to hear myself.
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