Long Live Parken

Tomorrow, the much awaited debut album of Parken "Länge Leve Parken" is released. Parken is a solo project of Pelle Lindroth (Moder Jord Massiva, Riga) and I heard him play on a great evening at the Trädgården Festival in Stockholm in June. The songs have been available for streaming at his myspace-page for a while now and it was as good as I remembered it. One of my top10 albums this year and definitely the best Swedish album for a very long time. Songs like "låt mig få följa dig ner", "jag har varit vilsen lisa" and "Åt helvete med himlen" has an instant approach that both gives me chills of happiness and a very moving feeling in my heart. Good combo.


- Pelle, congrats to a fantastic album. I can't wait to lay my hands on this on the release date. What are you thoughts about it?

I think the album came out exactly the way I wanted it too. We have worked and reworked on the sound for a long time but it really payed off. I'm happy with everything about it.


Can you tell about your musical background, I've understood you're part of both Moder Jord Massiva and Riga? What influenced to start Parken?

I've sung with MJM since 2000, in the beginning I was just improvising but when we started to put out albums I had to get a bit more structured. The first lyrics I wrote in Swedish was "Rödljus" on the first MJM album "Ur djupen", and after that I have written maybe two or three songs in swedish per album.

Rigas is actually my friend and producer Henrik von Euler. He has made two albums on which I have written some lyrics and sung a bit. I play guitar in his live band.
Rigas' wicked production is definitely a large part of the album's appeal, I think.

My first idea with Parken was to make sort of an "All Pelle" MJM album, collect beats from all the producers and sing over them. But I wanted it to be more of a pop album, a mix between MJM and my other band The Chrysler, so I started writing songs on guitar and made demos in the studio and I kind of wrote the lyrics as I recorded them. This made them simple and direct, and a bit unpredictable too. In the end Henrik wound up producing the whole album, we had a common vision where we could go with these songs and I think we made it!


- You did a really great show at Trädgården, Stockholm on June 6th (together with one of my other big Swedish favorites, Loney Dear). Who is your handsome side-kick? Is he a steady part of Parken? Does he still wear a moustache?

This is Henrik von Euler. Does he still wear a moustache? Yes, I believe he is. I met him today. Funny, I can't say for sure if he's still wearing it. Anyway, I'll make him grow another one before you see us again. I have also handpicked another member of MJM to do some additional keyboard, sax and vocal work. His name is David Giese and he's just a sweetheart.


- What are your favorite albums of 2008?

Thomas, it's really sad, but I don't think I've heard a whole new album for a very long time. The last one was the latest Nick Cave cd, I got it for my birthday. I'm a huge fan, and I kind of got into the album after hearing the songs live, but I'm not listening to it anymore, and I guess that's a bad sign. The albums I have listened to the most in 2008 are (if you except my own album with all the different mixes) actually one old favourite, "Bibeln" by Strindbergs, and two landmark albums that I missed out on in the eighties, the first Guns n' Roses album and "Actually" by the Pet Shop Boys. All eighties for Parken, then!


What are your next plans with Parken and your other musical projects.

I am going to play live a lot this fall, the tour is being scheduled and I will put the dates up on my myspace page as soon as they're done. I will probably come to Lund and play, I would be delighted if you came!