Henrik Lindstrand ‘Nordhem’ Released Today on One Little Independent Records
Henrik Lindstrand by Daniel Buchwald
Revered Swedish pianist Henrik Lindstrand has today released his third solo album ‘Nordhem’, out via One Little Independent. ‘Nordhem’ represents the finale in a trilogy of poetic, deeply personal melodically woven soundscapes comprising of the two critically acclaimed albums ‘Leken’ (2017) and ‘Nattresan’ (2019). Lindstrand communicates emotions through a soothing and intimate universe that seamlessly blends genres into his own ecosystem of sounds from the piano.
Lindstrand explains that “Nordhem means "north home” in Swedish and pays tribute to my Scandinavian roots. Both my childhood with the Swedish nature and landscape forming my musical expression but also my grown up life in Copenhagen since age 20 and that city’s way of shaping me as a person and composer. But Nordhem also refers to my parents to whom the album is dedicated. It felt natural to express my gratitude to them after so many years of actively supporting me and my choice to become a musician since I was a child. After becoming a parent myself, I know how difficult it is to raise a child and to give that person the best opportunities in life and balancing between inspiring, leading and letting go.”
At once both epic and emotive, ‘Nordhem’ opens with the blissful ‘Dungen’ which sways with calming grace (initially a commissioned composition for the health and meditation app AIO). The playful ‘Jum-Jum’ is a homage to a character of the same name in the 1954 fantasy novel Mio, My Son (Mio, Min Mio) by Astrid Lindgren, which Lindstrand was reading to his own son.
Much of the album ties into themes of family and nostalgia and draws inspiration from hugely diverse experiences of a life fully lived as well as poetic literature, such as ‘Blå Berget’ taken from Mina Drömmars Stad (City of my Dreams) by Swedish writer Per Anders Fogelström.
In ‘Hallonlandet’, ‘Gamla skolor’ and ‘Syrsor’, we’re introduced to Lindstrand’s penchant for experimentation; the former an exercise in subtractive techniques, breaking down a track to its skeletal structure, and the latter two presenting wistful keys that weave in and out of one another within different loops and patterns, expanding further and challenging traditional song structures.
The listener is invited in to follow these personal journeys into Lindstrand’s past. ‘Stora Huset’ uses exquisite and elegant simplicity to recall summers spent at a countryside mansion where his mother lived, decorated with moose antlers from a bygone era. Penultimate track ‘Loranga’ walks us through a similarly simplistic idea taken from his childhood; remembering his favourite Swedish soft drink of the time.
Lindstrand’s career is littered with accolades that make up an impressive and eclectic resume. A keen musician from a young age, he graduated from the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen where he became engrossed in the local musical culture and lent his skills to a multitude of acts as a studio musician, live player and string arranger. This lead to him being “adopted” into Danish rock band Kashmir, one of Scandinavia‘s most prominent and acclaimed bands with whom he toured the world extensively as their keyboard player and guitarist.
During his tenure in Kashmir and until the band’s hiatus, Henrik worked with seminal profiles such as Tony Visconti, Andy Wallace, David Bowie and Lou Reed, whilst building a career alongside as a highly regarded composer for television and cinema. Recent accomplishments include the score for the ITV Nordic-noir series Greyzone, the soundtrack for the hugely successful and award winning Lego game, Builder´s Journey and a film score to Undtagelsen (The Exception) to be released this summer. Recent noteable solo performances include sold out concerts in Copenhagen, The Heartland Festival (DK) Silent Green in Berlin, Soho House London, Union Chapel London and Pianeo Festival Munster (D).
Henrik Lindstrand’s ‘Nordhem’ is OUT NOW