I’ve got blisters on my soul I’ve been walking for too long I’ve been looking for an answer to a question I don’t know I’ve got blisters on my soul ___________________ As Gilles Deleuze and many process-oriented philosophers after him points out: We are always in a process. Always in a state of transition. In other words: We are always walking. Sometimes we know little about the … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: Blisters
I have been through two divorces. The first time, about eleven years ago, we got married after five years together. The marriage somehow worked as a catalyst for her to realise that ’this is not at all what I want’, and after four months the divorce was a fact. It was her decision. Last year I went through the same thing, as if she had borrowed … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: When Your Phase is Gone
I love it when comedian Bo Burnham talks about humility and then counters with: and now, a song from the perspective of God. There is nothing inherently problematic about writing songs from the perspective of God. The problem arises when the lyrical perspective tries to impose the writer’s sentiments on the listeners with the help of divine authority. I, however, wanted to write an open song, a song of … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: Listen
For some years I’ve had a motto that I’ve expressed something like this: Out of six billion people there are people bound to have a more well-founded opinion than you – be prepared to change. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I go around constantly longing for being proven wrong, but it’s a reminder to be open to the fact that I don’t know everything. In … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: Heidegger, Marx or Foucault
A wise man (let’s call him Christoffer Berg) once said something along the lines: I think where many artists go wrong is that they try to tell their audience what their songs are about. I think there’s a lot of truth to this. As far as literature is concerned, academics talk about ’the death of the author’. The same goes for musical lyrics. I (or anyone else) can’t control what … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: Speech Is No More
Circles I wish we could agree, but we’re going in Circles I wish we could agree, but we’re going in Circles I wish we could agree, but we’re going in Circles I wish we could agree, but we’re going in Circles To varying degree, we are in a dissensus We’re wading through debri, we can’t seem to make sense of With historicity we avoid to … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: Circles
Hereunder you’ll find my complete discography (as Jonatan Bäckelie): 2016: Jonatan Bäckelie ”Darkness On the Edge of Ecstasy” [Sonar Kollektiv] Matthias Vogt featuring Jonatan Bäckelie ”Higher Love” + Powel Remixes 2015: Matt Darey ”Dream of Me EP”, including Matt Darey featuring Jonatan Bäckelie ”Step Outside” [Nocturnal Nouveau] 2014: Alex Barck ”Reunion Remixes” including: Doubter (Ada Remix), Doubter (Beach Club Remix), Doubter (Mao Remix), We Get High (Kalabrese … Continue reading The Discography
I sometimes half-serious-half-jokingly refer to this song as the world’s first honest love song. Because no matter what we want to promise one another, and how strongly we are feeling deep sensations of love, lust, affection, empathy, passion, arousal, truth, connection and commitment, we can honestly not say with absolute certainty that we know that we are going to stay together forever. And that bittersweet insight, that what we have … Continue reading Lyrics & Interpretations: It Could Go Either Way
This is my selection of songs, presenting the soundscapes that are currently occupying my headspace. Some deep, dark, brooding counter weight to the potential overload of Christmas songs you may be experiencing currently: Datach’i: Monarchs / Nathan Fake: Fortune Bru / Jonatan Bäckelie: Circles / Hanna Järver: Ingenting Skrivet (1987 Remix) / Ludovico Einaudi & Amsterdam Sinfonietta: Night (Lone Wolf Trait Remix) / Machinedrum: Do it 4 U … Continue reading Playlist: Dec16
2007 I came to a fork in the road. I realised I couldn’t live off music alone (people had stopped buying records and with that half my annual was gone), so I had a choice: Either go more commercial, or let my music be a space of uncompromising art, and absolute creative freedom. I chose the way of no compromise. But. Having worked closely with record labels … Continue reading Darkness On the Edge of Ecstasy – LP out now!
