Johan Sundelöf

"It's music that is nice to lean back to, take a deep breath, and just unwind."

Grown Up in Music

Johan Sundelöf grew up with music, which was something constantly present in his childhood home right from the beginning. Everyone in the family played instruments or sang in choirs, and his grandfather built violins and nyckelharpas as a hobby, while he and his uncle used to play folk music at gatherings. In other words, Johan grew up in a decidedly musical family, which also led him to pursue music himself, "I probably sang as much as others played football." One of his earliest music memories was from when he was in the children's choir in Gamla Uppsala, where he got to know a very inspiring organist who also became his first piano teacher. For Johan, his melodies come suddenly in various situations, and when they do, he tries to play them to hear how they sound inside his head, and then bring them out through piano playing. "I don't write notes, they just come." If he were to describe his musical expression, he would describe it as "melodic, relaxing, somewhat jazzy, somewhat folk, somewhat cinematic, sometimes with a touch of melancholy, music that is nice to lean back to, take a deep breath, and just unwind." He believes that some people find his music reminiscent of Georg Riedel, Jan Johansson, Änglagård, and even that there are associations with Astrid Lindgren in the music, simply because it feels cinematic in some way.

The New Musical Step

Creating and playing music is something Johan greatly enjoys, and he finds it comforting to exist within music, which in itself evokes many different emotions. As a musician, playing the piano is a recurring and important part of his daily life, and now taking the step to see his works released and come to life is appreciated by him. Previously, he only played the songs for himself, and now letting others have the opportunity to experience the music, he believes, allows it to "continue its journey." At the same time, he hopes that listeners will enjoy the works in the same way he does. Johan describes the process of recording the album and the collaboration with KMR Studios: "Working with KMR has been the whole difference. Recording on a real instrument and not a keyboard was the only option since my way of playing relies so much on getting feedback from a real instrument." Initially, it was only intended to record the songs on the album for the artist's own sake, but as more and more people still liked and hummed the melodies afterwards, he thought it might be worth making them available to others. Which we at KMR, and probably many others, will be grateful for. Looking ahead, Johan would especially like to play his music with other musicians, with bass, percussion, and perhaps soprano saxophone, where he would find it especially fun to do a concert with a skilled jazz trio. Where he presents the songs himself and lets the musicians take over and improvise over the songs, or they build on and make their own versions of the melodies. Within a year, he also hopes that he has developed his jazz piano playing and has taken new steps in writing more new songs. This, along with a curiosity about where the music and the current album will take him.

Listen to the music