A warm and grooving debut from this Scandinavian folk trio. The sound is an acoustic weave of guitar, fiddle, flute and voices, through summerly tracks pervaded by an attractive combination of sparks and low shoulders. A CD of Scandinavian village music!

11 MP3 Songs in this album (37:06) !
Related styles: Folk: Traditional Folk, World: Scandinavian, Type: Acoustic

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Details:
THE SECRET CARPET CLUB - VILLAGE (press release)

Village â a debut CD from the Scandinavian folk group The Secret Carpet Club, with Emma Johansson, Carl Nyqvist and Vidar Skrede. While The Secret Carpet Club is a relatively new constellation, the album presents three well-established folk musicians, deeply rooted in their local traditions and, not least, in their own individual musical expression. Guitar, fiddle and various flutes weave together to make a rich, rhythmic and dynamic musical fabric, with Emmaâs voice in the foreground and Carl and Vidar providing the harmonic background. Songs and instrumentals are here in equal measure. The material is mainly from Swedenâs west coast, but a Norwegian tune joins the repertoire, along with four tunes composed by group members. The songs range from tender love songs, ballads and chorales to frisky sailor songs, cheeky comic ballads and a shout out over the ocean to missing sailors. The instrumentals offer warm, rich and sprightly polskas, a romantic bridal waltz and a fervent, thundering march by way of conclusion. All in all - a cohesive, dynamic and pleasing album.

An appropriate âfile-underâ genre for this album, bearing in mind its title, is âvillage musicâ, but it also belongs under âfolkâ, ârootsâ, sometimes âScandinavian countryâ, and even âretro folkâ. Several tracks reveal a tiny inclination towards Celtic, Canadian and American folk styles, while the warm and somewhat naïve approach to the music shows a certain inspiration from the folk-prog movement of the 70s. But basically this album belongs under âScandinavian folkâ, and this is neither concealed nor solemnly drawn attention to.

With the album Village, The Secret Carpet Club invite the listener into their living room, onto their carpet, in their musical village somewhere between Norway and Sweden. It is a warm, dynamic album, glancing sentimentally backwards and a flirtatiously sideways to the west. With its pulse and atmosphere, Village represents a heartfelt and playful contribution to Scandinavian folk music, eager to please the ear and get the foot tapping.

The Secret Carpet Club are:
Emma Johansson â vocals and flutes, Carl Nyqvist â fiddle and backing, and Vidar Skrede â guitar and backing vocals. The three musicians met as master students in Nordic folk music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 2008. Drawn to each otherâs playing styles and to the results of the unique musical chemistry that arose between them, they founded the trio The Secret Carpet Club. Since then, they have held concerts and toured around Scandinavia. In 2009 they released the EP Popular Music from Scandinavia. One of the four tracks, âI denna ljuva sommartidâ is included on Village.


CREDITS (text from the CD cover)

Song and tune sources:
1. I dagarna fem - trad.: A. Kristenssen, Klädesholmen, Sweden.
2. Lynx Lynx - comp.: Vidar Skrede.
3. Fridas och Karins brudvals - comp.: Emma Johansson.
4. Bonden - trad.: K. Nilsdotter, Eda, Sweden.
/ Tor Pærsens Hambo - trad.: S. Fjeldstad, Holt, Norway.
5. I denna ljuva sommartid - trad.: N. Bengtsson, Grästorp, Sweden,
lyrics: P. Gerhardt, J. von Düben, C. O. Angeldorff, B. G. Hallqvist.
6. Se stjärnorna - trad.: L. Larsson, Ytterby, Sweden.
7. Tre lå - trad.: A. Claesson, Orust, Sweden.
/ Granhilds Polska - comp.: Vidar Skrede.
8. Röd, inte brun - comp.: Carl Nyqvist.
9. I Österrike - trad.: L. Larsson, Ytterby, Sweden, lyrics trad.: H. Wikeryd, Knippla, Sweden.
10. Tro aldrig - trad.: S. Hult, Sunnersberg, Sweden.
11. Bullaremarschen - trad.: N. Olsson, Naverstad, Sweden.

All arrangements by The Secret Carpet Club, except track 6 by Emma Johansson and track 8 by Carl Nyqvist & Vidar Skrede.

Sound & Design:
Recorded in "Gula Huset", Lidköping, Sweden, December 4-10, 2010.
Mixed and mastered by Hannu Oskala
Produced by Vidar Skrede
Photographs by Håkan Berg, Ying Feng Johansson
Cover design by Vidar Skrede

Thanks to:
Daniel Westin, Pontus Thorsson and Hannu Oskala for lending us their recording equipment, and Carl's family for letting us record in "Gula Huset".


SELECTED REVIEWS:

- Trio with a feeling for the music from the West -

This is a CD that kicks off with a stunning guitar groove in the sailor song âI dagarna femâ from Klädesholmen in Bohuslän, a tune that could be the parade example of the west wind that is blowing through the bandâs music. You can find an Irish relationship in the flute playing, and the fiddle with a vigorous figure, sounds just as much like bluegrass as a Scandinavian fiddlers' reunion festival.
All together in a dense alloy of the intensive swinging folk fusion by the guitars highly rhythmic accompany.â

â⦠an imaginative reminder that the folk musicâs strange kinship may do breath taking diagonals between places like Lidköping and the Appalachian Mountainsâ¦â

- Jonas Bergroth, Lira nr 2, 2011


- A tasty and solid Scandinavian folk music release -

âThe whole production is otherwise pervaded by an attractive combination of sparks and low shoulders. Throughout the record is a rhythmic nerve that doesnât overshadow the dynamics that the three exhibit between them. In the rear view mirror we can see the folk-prog movement of the 70s. These are not people that are afraid of cool vocal arrangements or of an occasional unexpected chord! Nor some rather subtle measures in the production that gives the sound a warm richness.â

- Snorre F.


- Village - a Nordic summer -

â⦠when the trio play around with the sounds in the music and throws in vocal arrangements and rhythmic variations, memories occurs of the free and exploring time of folk music in Sweden in the 70s. At the same time no doubt is left that the members of The Secret Carpet Club are extensive educated in the traditional music and master it to their fingertips, which we have gotten in habit of expecting from young folk musicians. But here is something we maybe could not expect. Nordic folk music releases from recent years often reminds of the Nordic winter. They are affected by great seriousness. This Album reminds more of the Nordic summer. There is sincerity and seriousness also, but the undertone is light and it is the joy and lust for life that dominates.â

- Audun Kjus


BAND MEMBERS BIO:

Emma Johansson (from Gothenburg, Sweden) is a freelance musician as a folk singer and flute player. She has a master degree in performing Swedish folk music at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and has specialised in the West Swedish music traditions. Besides The Secret Carpet Club, Emma is known from bands like: Oleman (with Olof Misgeld and Anette Thorsheim), Tandoori Hill (with Petter Berndalen, Emma Reid and Bengt Jonasson), the international band Seaquins (with among others Anna Massie, Mairearad Green and Emily Smith), Huggevill (with Görgen Antonsson from Draupner and Fomp and Jonas Olsson), Eter (with Sofia Karlsson, Anna Johansson and Leo Svensson). She has released several CDâs, such as âEter â eterâ 1998, âHuggevill - vid randen blåâ 2006, âTandoori Hill - Brave Shynessâ 2009, âThe Secret Carpet Club â Popular Music from Scandinaviaâ EP 2009, and as a solist together with Emma Reid on the CD âEn stjärna gick på himlen framâ 2010, with âLunds akademiska körâ. She has appeared on television and radio, among others on the TV show with Barbro Svensson âLill-Babsâ and on âBröstcancergalan i Globenâ with Katie Melua and her hit âNine Million Bicyclesâ.

Carl Nyqvist (from Lidköping, Sweden) is a coveted fiddler and tune writer, working as a freelance musician in addition to teach at workshops, seminars, courses and more. He has distinguished himself as a âriksspelmanâ (National Folk Musician of Sweden) in performing tunes from Västergötland, the area which he also has his musical background from. He has a master degree in Nordic folk music at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, where he studied under among others Mikael Marin (from Väsen), Ellika Frisell, Arto Järvelä (from JPP) and Harald Haugård. Besides The Secret Carpet Club and various duo projects, Carl is heard in the band NOMAS (that released the CD âFlowâ i 2009) and in cross over constellations like the bluegrass influenced band Bleeding Hearts and the folk-pop band Norrom. He has been heard in radio and television all over Northern Europe.

Vidar Skrede (from Haugesund, Norway) is a freelance Nordic folk musician on guitar, harding fiddle, fiddle and bouzouki. He has a background the traditional music from Rogaland (South West of Norway) and has a master degree in Nordic folk music at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Vidar is known from bands like Vidar Skrede DYNAMO BAND (with Pilvi Talvitie and Jani Kivelä from Tsuumi Sound System), Geitungen, AAMOS (with Kevin Henderson from Boys of the Lough, Session A9 and Fiddlersâ Bid) The Great Norwegian Guitar Quartet (with Tore Bruvoll, Annar By and Øystein Sandbukt), og NOMAS. He has also performed with artists like Vegar Vårdal, Patrik Andersson, Frode Haltli, Stian Carstensen (from Farmers Market), Kristian Bugge (from Baltic Crossing), Niklas Roswall (from Ranarim), Zar (DK), Bodega (UK), and Sver (NO). Vidar has appeared on national television in Norway and Iceland, and been heard on radio in all the Nordic countries and USA, which includes two live radio concerts at NRK P2 in Studio 19. Vidar has released CDâs like âGeitungen â Vaniljesausâ 2001, âGeitungen â Bra Kastâ Grappa 2005 (awarded at the Norwegian Folk Music Awards), âNOMAS â flowâ 2009, âVidar Skrede DYNAMO BAND â Organic Polskaâ EP 2009, âThe Secret Carpet Club â Popular Music from Scandinaviaâ EP 2009, âGeitungen â Langt Uteâ Grappa 2010 (nominated at the Norwegian Folk Music Awards). Vidar is a coveted musician on the Nordic folk music scene and a popular tune writer â his compositions are played and recorded by bands like Fiddlersâ Bid and Blazing Fiddles besides with his own projects.