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Jan 29, 2021 By Mark Redfern Loney dear

Sweden’s Loney dear (the project of Emil Svanängen) has announced a new album, A Lantern and a Bell, and shared its first single, “Trifles.” A Lantern and a Bell is due out March 26 via Peter Gabriel’s label, Real World. Below is “Trifles,” followed by the album’s cover art.

A Lantern and a Bell is Loney dear’s second album for Real World, following 2017’s self-titled album. Gabriel has previously called Svanängen “Europe’s answer to Brian Wilson.”

Of the new album, Gabriel says in a press release: “Sad soulful melodies that create space in your head that fill with memories dreams and tenderness. I am very proud that we are working with such a gifted songwriter. When you’re isolating, what better than to be wrapped up in these beautiful imaginative constructions—the work of a master.”

A Lantern and a Bell was recorded with producer Emanuel Lundgren in a studio on western Södermalm in Stockholm. The album was influenced by maritime themes. “Near where I live, freighters pass by every day and the sounds of their engines get into my head. And further into the music,” says Svanängen.

Of “Trifles,” Svanängen says: “I love this song. All these gentle uneven bars barely noticed in a good song. The glock ostinato starting to copy the piano figure, and the disoriented whistle in the interlude. The powerful ending, even if we promised ourselves to not have songs that grew in the end.

“I’m especially fond of the second verse: ‘sleeping like a carcass, waiting on bus stops, down was the new right, the biggest ship ever caught. I lay in your bed, these times you’re not here. I was the crowd, you wore the crown here.

“The first verse’s ‘concrete shoes’ refers to when someone messes with the wrong people and get sunk in the water in Nybroviken, outside the theatre. We messed around with naming the song ‘Trifles.’ It’s a dessert. Or something too trivial to mention. Anyhow, do enjoy. This one is special to us.”

Read our 2017 interview with Loney dear.

Once Under the Radar did a joint interview between Svanängen and actor Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy on Modern Family), who was a big Loney dear fan at the time.

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