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Album
Lindell, Jesper
Twilights
(Rootsy Music)

Price: 149 SEK

Jesper Lindell’s second album is a creative tour de force! During two years of setbacks – weathering label issues, a pandemic, cancelled tours, and a kidney disease to boot – Jesper and his band had little else to do but write and record music. The result is a remarkable new album; “Twilights”, recorded in their own studio in Brunnsvik, outside of Ludvika, Sweden. The record is produced by Jesper Lindell and Björn Pettersson, but is at its core a collaborative effort from the heart and soul of the whole band. This was fundamental to the recording sessions from the get-go – to encourage ideas and influences from all six members of the band. As the cherry on top, the album has three luminous guest singers; Swedish Klara Söderberg, one half of sister-duo First Aid Kit; French rockstar Theo Lawrence; and American singer Amy Helm, daughter of The Band’s Levon Helm.

“Twilights” is a compelling mix of blue-eyed soul and down-to-earth classic rock, evolving from the heavily soul-influenced debut album “Everyday Dreams” to create a timeless sound. Inspired by legends like The Band and Van Morrison, the point has never been to copy or even imitate, but to listen and learn. To emulate an attitude, more than anything, and follow their example in the creative process.

Other important sources of inspiration are not as obvious, musically speaking, but equally as logical. Local Ludvika rock hero Moneybrother – along with other Swedish giants such as Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Mando Diao, Atomic Swing, The Hives, The Ark, and The Creeps – all recorded their best and most timeless albums as unfiltered tributes to the American and British artists, songs and albums they loved. Jesper and his band follow the same Swedish tradition with the same unaffected attitude. Like alchemy, they turn this love and inspiration into pure auditory gold.

Take the opening track “Westcoast Rain” and place it on one of Van The Man’s 70s records, and it would fit right in. Except for how it sounds so utterly Jesper Lindell contemporary.

Or skip to “Dance”, a wholly irresistible duet with Theo Lawrence and a life-affirming tribute to both New Orleans Rhythm & Blues and Doug Sahm. Or perhaps more specifically his organist Augie Meyers.

“Twilight” is the one cover on the record, as well as the title source. A practically obscure track plucked from The Band’s 77 release “Islands”, it’s an elegant nod to the masters made no less so by Amy Helm’s luminous guest appearance.

Jesper Lindell’s 2017 debut single “Moving Slow” was an immediate success and has since accumulated almost 5 million streams. On this single, and the following 5 track EP “Little Less Blue”, Jesper worked closely with the First Aid Kit family, a collaboration that was continued with the lauded Leonard Cohen tribute “Who by Fire”, released in 2021.

After a few bumps in the road with their first label, Jesper Lindell finally released his critically acclaimed debut album “Everyday Dreams” on his own, in 2019. Featuring the radio hits “Whatever Happens” and “Stormy Waters”, the record was released internationally to glowing reviews in the US.

With an extensive tour scheduled for the end of 2019, stretching through winter and into spring 2020, Jesper returned home to Ludvika with his band to rehearse. For obvious reasons, this did not turn out as planned as the pandemic and Jesper’s own waning health soon put the whole thing on hold. Despite it all, Jesper didn’t lose hope. He worked through the pain and turned it into an impressive creative energy, using it to write a catalogue of songs and work on a new sound with his close-knit band, to eventually start recording. All while fighting a severe congenital kidney disease.

In June 2021, Jesper received a new kidney from his dad, and today they’re both doing well. Finally free to make new plans for the future, Jesper Lindell has a busy couple of years ahead of him. 2022 is already booked full with an extensive tour through Scandinavia and Europe, alongside more sessions in the recording studio. If we’re lucky, we might even see another album release as soon as early 2023. Jesper and his band sure don’t suffer from a lack of songs, desire or inspiration!

1. Westcoast Rain
2. If There Comes A Time
3. Leave A Light On
4. Twilight	Amy Helm
5. Dance	Theo Lawrence
6. White Lines
7. Christmas Card
8. Nights Like These
9. Living Easy
10. Into the Blue

Other albums by Lindell, Jesper: