News From Hemifran April 2018

Hemifrån is an independent A&R, promotion and marketing company, based in the heart of Sweden, specializing in, what they call, “gut music” – The kind of music that you can feel in your gut, no matter what. Hemifran is promoting a lot of singer-songwriter, westcoast-pop, country, AOR and more. Here are featured some of their latest news – it is not all west coast, but dig into it!

Paul Messinger – Love Will Find You: 9 Degress of Relationship

Paul Messinger is a poet, songwriter, vocalist, and instrumentalist, originally from New York, now based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He is known as one of the early proponents of the Howard Levy (The Flecktones) approach to playing diatonic harmonica, and writes nuanced, character driven songs in varied styles, explaining, “Different stories require different musical styles to tell them”. More information at Hemifran.

CJ Simmons – Forever

Nashville duo CJ Simmons is Christian and Jessica Simmons. Originally from Oklahoma, Christian fuses his Okie influence with Jessica’s soft hometown Texas sound. Over the past few years CJ Simmons has opened for many of today’s top names in country music, played for 1000’s, toured overseas to play for the US military, and had their videos picked up by CMT, and they are just getting started. With the release of their latest album, ”Forever”, they look forward to hitting the road while picking up fans one by one and show by show. CJ Simmons has one goal in mind, making the best possible music, and of course having a great time doing it. More information at Hemifran.

True North – Open Road, Broken Heart

True North is an acoustic trio ensemble of three wonderful and well-respected singer-songwriters: Eva Hillered of Stockholm, Sweden, Patrick Rydman of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Janni Littlepage of northern California, USA. Their respective styles traverse many musical genres from folk and americana, to rock, roots, pop, jazz and country, and their performances consist of songs co-written together, as well as their original material arranged for three voices and accompanied by guitars, dulcimer and percussion.

Though they live on distant continents, they are great friends who love each other’s music, and have written songs together for the past few years. Performing for the first time as a trio ensemble at the Copenhagen Songwriters Festival in Denmark in August 2012, the response was overwhelming and they realized that what they had created together with the amalgam of their individual styles and the blend of their voices and vocal harmonies was very unique. Thus, True North was born.. More information at Hemifran.

Love On Drugs – Solder

“Solder” is the title of Love On Drugs 2nd album, due for release April 13th, 2018. Behind the name Love On Drugs we find Thomas Pontén. He describes himself as an in Gothenburg residing singer songwriter and guitarist, who, for the past few years, has tried to combine the easiness of pop, with the often more harsh and brooding storytelling of country usic. Love On Drugs has been compared to Karl Wallinger’s World Party and it makes sense since he, just like Thomas, tends to mix influences from both sides of the pond in his music.

Love On Drugs is essentially a solo project. Pontén has written the songs and sings as well as plays all the guitars. The album was for the most part recorded at the producer, Magnus Johansson’s studio but some tracking was also done at Thomas’ own studio close to his home in Gothenburg. Together they’ve produced an album that probably first will find it’s way to listeners who share Ponténs eclectic taste in music. However the level of songwriting is so high and the songs so catchy, that most people will find them very appealing. More information at Hemifran.

Sawdust & Rust – Leaving A Memory

Sawdust & Rust was born after a chance meeting on Greenland in 2015 between Swedish singer songwriter Patrick Rydman and Faroese singer songwriter Benjamin Petersen, who goes under the artist name Son Of Fortune. Most of the debut album was recorded in Benjamin’s studio Bunkarin, in Tórshavn, FO. Melodic and accessible, this is poetic, catchy songwriting with lots of rootsy, folky elements and a touch of good old Nordic melancholy thrown into the mix, while never forgetting the importance of a memorable chorus. Welcome to a world where creation and decay walk hand in hand. Welcome to Sawdust & Rust. More information at Hemifran.

Michael Veitch – Wake Up Call

Heart driven songs combined with a beautiful tenor and fluid guitar playing, Michael Veitch is highly regarded by many of his singer songwriting peers. His music visits the past without regret and the future with an optimist’s Eye, while his lyrics and melody weave a narrative of world class performance. It’s every person’s dream to get to do what they love, intertwining that work with their heart’s passion and making a difference in the world. And that’s exactly how Michael Veitch lives his life. More information at Hemifran.

Flav Martin & Jerry Marotta – Soul Redemption

”Soul Redemption” is the debut release from singer songwriter Flav Martin and drummer producer Jerry Marotta. The duo harmoniously blends modern adult rock with traditional world pop. Whether performed in a café in Italy or on the polo fields of Indio, these songs would feel comfortably at home in either environment. Credited as one of the most innovative acoustic guitar players on the scene today, Flav Martin blends beautiful melodies with intricate technique, voicing, and a percussive style that leaves people saying “How does he do that?”. Throughout his career Flav has performed with David Crosby, Al Stewart, Suzanne Vega, Tommy Emmanuel and more. Flav’s many writing credits include Saturday Night Live, PBS, Canon Films. All but 2 of the songs on this album were written by Flav. More information at Hemifran.

Raven And Red – We Rise Up

With many musical accomplishments individually, Brittany Jones and Mitchell Lane met while attending the University Of North Carolina School Of The Arts in Winston Salem, NC. Not limited to one style of music, they discovered their shared interest in many different genres alongside classical music. From singing opera and playing the pipe organ to singing folk and country songs with a guitar and a fiddle, Mitchell and Brittany have been collaborating musically since they first met.

Upon graduating with her master’s degree in organ performance in 2011, Brittany decided to continue her education in bluegrass, old time, country, and celtic music at East Tennessee State University. While Mitchell continued pursuing his degree in vocal performance, he decided to learn the acoustic guitar in order to accompany Brittany at her program’s audition. More information at Hemifran.

Mike Aiken – Wayward Troubadour

Life on the fringe has its benefits, not the least of which is the perspective from an outsider’s view. Northwind Records is proud to announce the release of Mike Aiken’s 7th studio album, ”Wayward Troubadour”. Aiken’s 11 song package is the anticipated follow up to the Grammy nominated ”Captains & Cowboys”, produced by Dan Baird, Georgia Satellites. As the 1st track’s title indicates, ‘Everything Changed’ with this album. A conceptualized work that each of us can relate to, ”Wayward Troubadour” tells tales of trouble and charm.

It has been 5 years since ”Captains & Cowboys” made its debut and Aiken says he wasn’t going to stop, not until he achieved what he was after. “I had a very clear sound in my head for this album, one I’ve always wanted to capture. At this point in my career I don’t have time for folks who don’ t believe in the music 110%. These are the folks I want to write, record and perform with”. More information at Hemifran.

Mona Wallin – To Build A Fire

Mona Wallin is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitar player from Ljusdal, Hälsingland. She made her first public appearance at the age of 8. During her younger years, she played flute in a brass band and acted in the nationally organized Riksteatern’s performance of “A Fiddler On The Roof”. She started to play the guitar at the age of 12.

Her path to a musician’s life has been winding, and may at first appear to have almost led her astray. 4 years of university studies in forestry seemed to lead to a life of profit margins, production and pay checks, but in the end, the forest beckoned for other reasons, with its serenity, its beauty, and its quiet songs. She traded the industry for jazz studies at Birka Folkhögskola. At the end of her stay, she was offered a place in the highly selective program for individual artistic expression, and after that, she completed a 3 year degree programme in world music at the Academy Of Music And Drama at the University Of Gothenburg. More information at Hemifran.

Annie Keating – Ghost Of The Untraveled Road

A hugely impressive body of work, 8 albums over 14 years, culminates in this acoustic mini masterpiece by Brooklyn based songwriter Annie Keating.  An intoxicating mix of poetic and raw, tough and tender, Keating’s songwriting is at the heart of meaningful americana music. “Ghost Of The Untraveled Road” features this seasoned songwriter at her best. The album delivers beautiful, engaging, honest and real songs. 

About the new release, she shares, “These songs were born in motion, in the back of a sweltering tour rig last July, traversing 4 countries and some 7000 miles with no mobile phone service, I had a lot of time to write and think. Somehow as the miles rolled along, I collected a box full of half poems, melodies, refrains and phrases on napkins, set lists and my tour notebook. When opening that box of writings months later back in Brooklyn, I was pleasantly surprised. I picked up my Gibson guitar and it seemed like the songs were already there waiting, just hungering for the right chords”. More information at Hemifran.