Ebbe Eriksson

I usually don’t like to talk about what my songs are about. I would like for them to be open to interpretation. For some reason I feel like I should offer some context to a track on my solo record called ‘It Follows’. I’ve had a few people tell me they like this song in particular and I thought I’d write a few words about it. This song is about living your life with sorrow, anxiety and depression. If you know a little bit about anxiety, you know it’s a system in us that is meant to project us from immediate harm and danger. It’s made to help us, but as some of you might have experienced first hand, that’s not how it works. I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure this out in different ways. It’s almost as if anxiety is somebody or something that follows you and believes that it comes with good intentions. Like it has a mind of it’s own, detached from yours. It’s like an invisible friend that only wears you down. This song is written from the perspective of that supposed invisible friend and how it always makes it’s presence known. It’s a song about coming to terms with the fear of the fact that it might always be there. You might think it’s gone but the moment you acknowledge it, it’s back. How trying to get rid of it, with medication or other substances can backfire tenfold. How it in your worst moments can become unclear what’s real, what’s just in your head. It will make you feel worthless and make you question everything. I’m obviously not saying it can’t get better because it absolutely can. Life is not black and white. It’s not as simple as feeling great or not great. It might sound like a cliche thing to say, but writing music like this has always been therapeutic for me. Thanks for reading. Stay strong out there.

The last song from the ‘Rainman Sessions’ is ‘Second Letter’. Same deal as before, it’s me with a toy guitar live under the rain.  Filmed by Tomas Pich, edit by Tomas and myself. 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0KFfhMaXqMg1pMaXoNAj0R iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/se/album/transit-songs/id1258279209?l=en Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073W7H9YH/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp Bandcamp: http://ebbeeriksson.bandcamp.com

Filmed by Tomas Pich. Edited by Tomas and myself. 

I played a few songs from my new record ‘Transit Songs’ outside a rainy summer day. We decided to call it Rainman Sessions for obvious reasons. Here’s the first song from the session ‘Between Wine and Water‘.  Filmed by my good friend Tomas Pich. Edited by Tomas and myself. 

My name is Ebbe Eriksson and I'm a singer, guitar player and songwriter from Malmö, Sweden. I've created music with different constellations over the years, most recently with alternative rock band Pharoes. I've also been involved with mid 00s emo-core/post-hardcore band Far Above, trip-hop/pop/electronic duo Head Like Orange and the metal oriented recording project Nemorosa. Making music with other people is a relationship and it’s a beautiful thing if you get it right and everybody's on the same page. It's a creative exchange that can be difficult to describe to someone who's never experienced it but It's basically an emotional rollercoaster with its ups and downs. Like any relationship, and sometimes relationships end for new ones to begin. You outgrow each other and realise that in the end maybe you were not on the same page after all. It's hard not to lose yourself along the way. Music and creativity has always been very important to me. I know who I am and I have a very clear image of how I want to express myself. That image is constantly evolving and changing and that’s the beauty of it. It’s the main reason I keep coming back to music. I've had thoughts about making a solo record for more than ten years but it's easy to second guess yourself and get caught up in other things. Basically life happens. Recently I've felt an urge to use a different kind of palette while creating songs. I realised that I was ready to make that solo album that’s been living in the back of my mind for years. I felt ready to do something entirely on my own and not have my creativity be dependent on other people. So here I am and I've finally recorded an album. It is very different from anything I've ever done in the past, and it had to be, but still very much me when you break it down to its core. My definitive roots will always be in 90s alternative rock music and what some would label emo from the early 00s, but in this project I am also very influenced by 80s and early 90s new wave and indie rock/pop. The songs on this album are written with acoustic guitar, and are based on me performing them solo. In the studio some of the songs took a shape of their own and turned into something else than I had originally imagined, while still remaining its purity and vulnerability. I recorded this album with Tommy Tift (Vånna Inget, Sista Sekunden, True Moon) at Studio Motion in my home town Malmö. Tommy engineered and co-produced and mixed the album with me. We talked a lot about music and what makes us like what we like and not like what we don’t like. We agreed that the performances on this album needed to be kept as real as possible. I've tried my best to stay away from multiple takes, digital fixes and overdubbing. The album is recorded on tape and with almost exclusively vintage analog gear. I wrote and played everything, except for drums, which are handled with great care by my talented cousin Joakim Jensen. I've decided to call the album 'Transit Songs' as it to me represents an emotional and musical transition from one place to another. I hope you will enjoy listening to this album as much as I enjoyed making it.  Ebbe Eriksson - Transit Songs 1. Between Wine and Water 2. Chameleon 3. It Follows 4. Second Letter 5. Surgery 6. Violet 7. Hurricane Girl 8. Here Comes a New Challenger!  9. My Universe Awaits 10. A Familiar Void