The songs that were taking shape during 2013 / 2014 show an exciting progression of Pocket Size's concept. The recording sessions started out after an initial meeting with producer Tom Van Heesch at Big Island Sound studios. When he had heard the demos there was no turning back. He came up with the ideas how these tunes were going to be recorded and did a blueprint for the recording sessions. The primary idea was to highlight the retro elements of the music without going all the way into nostalgia. Exposed Undercurrents differs a bit from the last record (The Hornplayer…). There are two tunes with lyrics in Swedish, while the rest of the tunes are in English. There is also a stronger coherence within the album since the songs pour from the same well. But it is still not a concept album, all songs are individual entities.

As we entered into the second decade of the new millennium, the world was blessed with the birth of Pocket Size. You´re steppin´ through the door to a magical, musical universe. It´s all about vast sonic landscapes that penetrate the brain. On all levels. A progressive way of thinking, a progressive way of acting, a unifying progressive form of music that reaches out to everyone. You are invited to take part of the experience! As we had finished the last Pocket size album Exposed Undercurrents, I ended up there in a subconscious way. It had been a lot of hard work, stretching ideas to the limits and a little bit of artistic fatigue was present…

During his lifetime, Hugo Alfvén became known as one of Sweden’s principal composers of his time, with works that struck a chord with a wide audience. As a result of his popularity, a nationwide collection was held in celebration of his 70th birthday in 1942, with the proceeds used to build Alfvéngården, the composer’s home during his final years. Now, 80 years later, Elin Rombo and Peter Friis Johansson are releasing their tribute to Alfvén’s 150th anniversary, recorded at Alfvéngården using the composer’s own piano.

Från En Plats Du Ej Kan Se (From a Place You Cannot See) is Swedish band Beardfish debut album. It´s a retro prog rock album with that special Swedish touch that a band like The Flower Kings also posses. Beardfish is a bit more simple in their approach to the genre that the elaborate compositions of The Flower Kings. This doesn´t make them any less exciting though. There are both songs that are sung in Swedish and songs that are sung in English on Från En Plats Du Ej Kan Se.

From 1950 and onwards, Allan Pettersson was mainly occupied with working on the monolithic symphonies for which he is best known. But before that, while still a student at the Conservatory in Stockholm and later a viola player in the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, he composed two sets of songs: Six Songs and Barfotasånger (Barefoot Songs). Of these two, the second would become especially important for the composer, who returned to it throughout his life, quoting various songs from it in his symphonies.

Göteborg Baroque is pleased to announce the release of Johan Helmich Roman’s Then Svenska Messan, one of the most significant and beloved works in Swedish music history. Roman was a pioneer who was far ahead of his time, and today we see him as the founder of our modern musical culture. Göteborg Baroque has received accolades for its rigorous study and expressive presentation of older music in a way that makes it engaging for an audience today. With this recording, we are proud to be able to introduce this important work to an international audience.

Kraus' last and greatest works, the Symphonie funebre and Funeral Cantata for Gustav III, are fully able to stand with the best works in the forms of the period, as great as the late symphonies of Haydn and Mozart and, yes, even as great as the Requiem of Mozart. Written under the overwhelming personal and national tragedy of the assassination of the King of Sweden then at the peak of its cultural and national greatness, Kraus' funeral music is numb with shock and wild with grief, but always completely controlled, masterfully balanced, and profoundly moving. If there are only two works you ever listen to by Kraus, let them be these two works.

Sometimes regarded as a continuation of Telefon Paisa (or if you prefer, Sogmusobil). Truth is that only two of the members had previously been in Telefon Paisa: Johnny Mowinckel, and the ever so illustrious character Einar Heckscher. There are also only a few musical similarities between the two bands, with Levande Livet being far more skilled than Telefon Paisa and their pathologically untogether, albeit strangely attractive, freak jams…

Myrkur is the musical project of Danish singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, model, and actress Amalie Bruun. The word translates from Icelandic to English as "darkness." The Myrkur project has become musically fluid and embraces everything from black metal to traditional Scandinavian folk. In 2015 Myrkur's debut full-length, M, was produced by Ulver's Garm, the set also included other personnel from that band as well as horns and strings. The r; traditional folk instrumentation had been added. She toured the globe on the festival circuit before returning to Denmark. She married death metal drummer Keith Abrami in 2018 and gave birth to her first child the following year…

This fusion of Danish and Swedish musicians recorded an album of progressive folk rock at the legendary Silence studio. Complex songwriting, sparkling Hammond organ, fuzz guitar leads and some creative use of traditional instruments (fiddle, flute, hurdy gurdy) makes this album a must-have. Featuring among others Aron from Aron, Anders Groen fromBaby Woodrose and Tobias Petterson from SKL, hugely influenced by the likes of old Scandinavian progressive Kebnekajse, Alrune Rod and Arbete & Fritid. Beautiful and sensitive melodies, goose chilling guitar melodies, simply one of the best albums in this genre anno 2013.

The Finnish-American composer Alex Freeman has been described as being ‘as comfortable in the realm of the pop ballad as in that of the concert hall’ and yet his songs ‘are imbued with the craftsmanship and care one would expect of a composer of his formidable academic training, just as his concert works carry the emotional immediacy of popular music.’ Himself a choral singer, Alex Freeman has written a number of works for choir: music that aims to be sonorous and melodic, but is carefully crafted to avoid the clichés that can burden conventional tonality.