III

On December 2, the band and song orchestra Katten Skogmans Orkester releases their new album “III” (pronounced: Den tredje). It took 17 years for all the songs to finally see the light of day and for the entire album to reach its final form. They describe the album as “The World Championship in Eclecticism.”

The lyrics are personal, comical, sad, naughty, serious, unserious – yes, the album deserves a podium place in the Eclecticism World Championship. The band describes their sound as symphonic folk-pop, where some songs are more folk and less symphony, and others are more symphony and less folk.

The lyrics and music are created by Björn Ende and Henrik Hurtigh. Björn also plays keyboards, and together with Henrik Hurtigh, who is also the band’s guitarist, they contribute most of the vocals. The groovy and steady bass is handled by David “Katten” Skogman, Fredrik Carlzon controls all the brass in the songs and also has the technical knowledge as the producer. Alexandra “One-take-Alex” Eklöf plays beautiful violin. The quick-witted but low-key Martin “The Dark Lord” Welander plays drums on the first nine songs, and then the more energetic rocker and legend Richard Klemmé took the baton and took his place behind the drum set. The album also features Clara Hansen, who sings opera, and the comedian and improviser Erik Broström, who got hold of a ukulele and a cool wail in honor of the album.