Thomas Neukum

sir Was

– SHARES NEW LITTLE DRAGON REMIX OF‘IN THE MIDST’
– DEBUT ALBUM ‘DIGGING A TUNNEL‘ OUT MARCH 10TH
– LABEL: CITY SLANG 

Emerging Gothenburg artist sir Was has shared a new Little Dragon remix of his recent single ‘In The Midst’. sir Was is set to release his debut album ‘Digging A Tunnel’, which showcases his blend of hip-hop, soul & spirited electronica, onMarch 10th via City Slang.

Speaking about the collaboration, Little Dragon said “sir Was has been around us as a friend from the early 00’s. We are very proud of this remix of his ever bouncing piece of majestic funk!”

Comprised of 10 original songs, ‘Digging A Tunnel’ is an album that constantly bucks trends and confounds expectations. Traveling as widely as Wästberg has — and filtered through a love for hip hop — the album is as unrestrained and spirited as the music that inspired it. Wästberg explains, “Moondog, Bob Hund, My Bloody Valentine, D’Angelo, J Dilla, Thomas Mapfuno. Liturgy, Dudley Perkins, Sly and the Family Stone, The Beatles, Mahavishnu Orchestra… I don’t know. I listen to a lot of stuff!”

sir Was played almost all the instruments on his debut, including drums, bass, keyboards, guitar, percussion, clarinets, and saxophone. “Everything except the bagpipe and the harmonica… Those I captured with my iPhone,” says Wästberg. Much of ‘Digging A Tunnel’ was recorded between autumn 2014 and spring 2015 in Wästberg’s favored Gothenburg studio space, Stampen, but the record is lent its especially singular atmosphere by the strange background noises the producer employs, many from field recordings he compiled during his travels, whether maracas in Mexico or flutes from another distant land. It boasts, too, an effortless flow, reflected in Wästberg’s vocal delivery, which shifts from the aforementioned falsetto to a lazy spoken word delivery that circles round the beat rather than landing on it.

Inspired by Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, sir Was began studying jazz saxophone at an early age and was soon flying around the world to perform with a variety of ensembles. His more unlikely experiences included jamming with a pajama-clad Sean Lennon in his New York apartment and escaping the 2012 coup d’état after playing at a festival in Bamako, Mali. Though he later moved back to Gothenburg, he also spent time at the University of Kwasulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, where he developed an interest in pan-African rhythms that was furthered by travels through Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Soon he was making a living not from his saxophone – as he had since 2010 – but from other musical adventures, including playing with José González. Eventually, however, the time came to strike out on his own.  “I’ve been interviewing myself in the shower for years,” he jokes, “secretly dreaming about daring to put out my own music. But I finally felt ready to give myself the opportunity. I didn’t have a clear intellectual idea, but I had a gut feeling, an imagination of a sound. A lot was going on – big changes, break ups – and life felt shitty, but also open. I was broke, but I was starting to feel some kind of new feeling of… let’s call it freedom. I realised that I needed to make an album or I’d become bitter and angry. I thought, ‘If I don’t take myself seriously, I can’t take anyone else seriously either’. I don’t care if 5 or 5,000 people hear it, as long as it comes out of my studio.”

‘Digging A Tunnel’ artwork:

‘Digging A Tunnel’ tracklist: 

1. In The Midst (video)
2. A Minor Life (video)
3. Digging A Tunnel
4. Bomping
5. Revoke
6. Falcon
7. Heaven Is Connected
8. Interconnected
9. Leave It Here
10. Sunsets Sunrises

Links:
Pre-order ‘Digging A Tunnel‘ – http://sirwas.lnk.to/diggingatunnel
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