boerd (Bård Ericson) featured here earlier in the year and here he is again; accompanied on vocals, as he has been on and off over the years, by Stella Explorer, an artist whose debut EP we featured a few weeks ago. She takes the place of Venus Anon, who was the vocalist on the previous song and there is a third one, Skator, on his forthcoming album.
This single, ‘Another Life’ is not on that album, which is called ‘Caution Fragile.’
There’s something fragile about boerd. His songs tend to be pretty laid back affairs, and he is known for his fusion of down-tempo electronic music with classical music influences. He is formally trained musically, specialising on the double bass with which he gigs with the Royal Swedish Opera and he plays the electric bass in his own band.
The album, his sixth solo one, is described as “a journey through melancholic soundscapes, captures the moment where you start to come back from a dark place, when you see the light at the end of the tunnel”, which is where he finds inspiration for his music.
He says he had planned to keep this as an instrumental track, with a long Rhodes piano solo in it but his plans changed after Stella Explorer recorded the vocals.
To my mind what works so well in the boerd/Stella combination is the fact that she is equally laid back, as much as she is on her EP. They are perfectly in tune with each other, she’s siren-like (those from Greek Myth), and the overall effect is hypnotic.
The song is the first he’s recorded in 3/4 time, which is of course the time signature of a waltz. I can’t imagine any celebrity gliding across the ‘Strictly’ dance floor to it but it will doubtless sweep you off your feet.
A quick mention of the drummer, who I think is his regular one. What he plays sounds very simple even if it is metronomic but it’s all about empathy and ‘feel’ and he’s got it in spades.
The single is out now.
For his new album, which is out on 30th September, boerd has decided to release independently through his new label Blunda, after putting out previous albums through Anjunadeep/Reflections.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boerdmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/boerdmusic/
