The new album Hotel Continental is now ready and at the pressing plant and will be released on vinyl later this spring. It was recorded the analogue way on to 2″-tape by Christian Gabel (who’d just worked with Hello Saferide) at Cobra Studio in Stockholm, and mixed by Patrick A Derivaz (who came from work with Television) in Brooklyn, NY.
The band in the studio consisted of Johan Werner – piano, Hammond and mellotron, Johan Adelman & Bo Schager – bass, Lutten Larsson & Per Lager – drums, and Stellan Wahlström – vocals, guitars (including an electric Hagström 12-string) and the occasional celeste. Jason Victor (Dream Syndicate) and Mats Grönmark (Eve & the last waltz) added glorious and raw solo guitars.
The new album promises to be a more up-tempo and rock album than the previous recordings, even though it will also have its somber folk rock moments the way we’re used to. The cover of the album will be a painting made by Spanish artist Angeles Santos.
Stellan Wahlström was previously in the garage rock band The Wylde Mammoths, touring Europe and the US and releasing records on the legendary Crypt Records label. He was also in The High Speed V, another wild rock combo coming out of that same scene. He has now left the garage and with his Drift Band is doing what could be described as modern urban folkrock, or as the US magazine The Big Takeover put it: ”A more sophisticated take on a cross between post-Velvets and Alt-Country with a very clean almost jazz-like ambience”.
Based in New York during the last half of the nineties, Stellan Wahlström did lots of live shows at clubs like CBGB’s, Continental and Sidewalk, and recorded the album Time leaves you behind with Patrick A Derivaz (who had previously worked with Television, Luna and John Cale among others). The song ”Watching TV” was featured in the independent film ”Rhyme and Reason”, and Stellan also did studio work for other artists, including harmonica playing on rock’n’roll band Sour Jazz’s first album.
Returning to Sweden he reformed the band, released the So this is what the end looks like–EP, and started playing live again in Stockholm (as well as acoustic tours in India in 2003 and 2005). The second album The excitable gift was recorded by Sten Hårdbåge at Das Boot Studio in Stockholm and mixed by Linus Larsson (Anna Ternheim, Eldkvarn and others), and featured the slow piano song ”Ocean Ave” which some radio stations quite liked. If the first album had a distinct taste of classic New York rock, the second album hinted more towards 70’s West Coast singer/songwriter-rock. That one was followed up by Across the room (with the single “Charlotte says”), which gained quite a lot of airplay on US college radio stations, and Stellan was over in New York and played at the legendary but now defunct Lakeside Lounge for that.
Discography:
Albums
- 1999 – Time leaves you behind
- 2005 – The excitable gift
- 2009 – Across the room
Singles & EP’s
- 1991 – Gör det fort (7″ vinyl)
- 1994 – Går igen (EP)
- 2001 – So this is what the end looks like (EP)
- 2004 – Ocean Ave
- 2005 – Further away from you
- 2009 – Charlotte says
- 2010 – Burn baby burn / Good Friday
Compilations
- 2000 – Sinderella sampler 00/01
- 2004 – Indeed a very friendly Belpid compilation
- 2008 – An utmost friendly Belpid compilation
Links:
CDBaby (for CD and mp3 purchases)
MySpace
Reverbnation
Bandcamp
YouTube:
“Charlotte says” video
“What are you made of” Live at Lakeside Lounge, NY Nov 2009
“And I was finally sleeping” Live at Pet Sounds Bar, Stockholm May 2009
Spotify:
Stellan Wahlstrom Drift Band – This Side Of Paradise
Stellan Wahlstrom Drift Band – Ocean Ave
Stellan Wahlstrom Drift Band – The Paying
Press:
PRESS “Across the room”:
“I have to admit I’m a sucker for heartfelt tunes like these as long as the
songwriting is good and it is played with passion, like these songs are.”
// Dagger Zine (USA)
“This album definitely deserves recognition. Alt-country and Velvet Underground in a perfect symbiosis.
The fine ringing guitars make a notable impression. More than anything there is a sincerity in Stellan Wahlström’s
voice which makes the words he’s singing meaningful and elevates the music.”
// Östran (Sweden)
“They elegantly hang around Lou Reed as confidently as when they occasionally sneak into some Americana.
And Stellan Wahlström’s lyrics on top of great songs like “Burn baby burn” and “Never look a woman in the eyes”
can definitely be enjoyed.”
// Oskarshamns Tidning (Sweden)
“Across the room” is an excellent album, the first single “Charlotte says” is a true gem. There are a couple of piano songs on this brilliant album where “Burn baby burn”, “What are you made of?” and the very passionate and tender highlight “Don’t go” stand out.”
// Roots-time (Belgium)
“8 / 10”
// Side-line (Belgium)
PRESS “The excitable gift”:
“That’s what I like – his ability to make the listener feel that the lyrics are for real, that what
he is singing about is important and that he manages to convey a visual sincerity with his vocal expression.
Reminds of Lou Reed’s Berlin album.”
// Zero Magazine (Sweden)
“The music is beautifully performed and even though there are many artists and albums that sound similar to this, “The Excitable Gift” has a perfection that is impressing – the ringing electric guitars, the sparse piano, the desolate violin.”
// Musiklandet (Sweden)
PRESS “Time leaves you behind”:
“A very strong band performing some amazing music. Wahlstrom is a songwriter of the Townes Van Zandt/Bob Dylan school – not that his work sounds anything like either of those artists, but he has the same confidence in his storytelling.”
// The Big Takeover (USA)
“True feelings and authenticity… Might come to mean a lot to many people.”
// Upsala Nya Tidning (Sweden)
“Stellan is succeeding well with the down to earth melancholy.”
// Ett Noll Ett (Sweden)
“Definitely honest.” (7,5/10)
// Ici Magazine (Canada)
“Some of the intensity from which great albums are made.”
// Realmusic (Germany)
