The Glimmer Interludes

On our recent Canadian tour, our “skins master” Chris “THE GLIMMER” Dadge filled the gaps between songs with a series of his own compositions. Gathered here at last – due to popular demand (ours, mostly) – we give you, dearest internet friend and follower, The Glimmer Interludes. All your favourites are here! ‘Yesterday’s News’! ‘My Grandma’s Eyes’! ‘Furniture From The Patio’! Without doubt the finest live album at less than 3 minutes in length ever compiled. (AND BONUS! The studio version of ‘Furniture From The Patio’, AKA The Summer Jam 2010).

• The Glimmer Interludes (Live)
• Furniture From the Patio

The festival is over, and last night’s party lasted until some point this morning. While everyone slept, I took a bicycle along the coast, riding through small Swedish villages along the seaside. Swans the size of my bike swam in the water and the air cleared my lungs. I bought a sunflower and some baking. Back at the house in the early afternoon, everyone was waking slowly, and it was time to pack up bags and make the boat. Now there are very few of us left — tomorrow, we’ll all have returned to mainland Sweden, to Stockholm and Göteborg. Adieu, Visby.

• Resväskor

The annual Ljudvågor festival in Visby premieres new classical works by the students of the Tonsättar Skolan on the harbour. Not only is the city filled with the sound of music (Notes? Who needs them! Tuned instruments? Over-rated!), but each flat seems stuffed with musical instruments on every surface. It matters not if you can really play them, and each room of the house (we’re staying in one built in the 1300s, previously a monastery — when renovated, they discovered children’s corpses underneath) is typically bursting with different songs simultaneously. Here then, a sample listen to the sounds of Hampus Norén’s place.

• Hampus’ Hus

When you tell a Swedish person you’re going to Gotland for a week, their eyes widen and they speak of the island that awaits you in hushed tones. A security guard at the train station even put me first in the queue when I told him where I was going — he was born here, and was adamant that it was still the “most beautiful part of Sweden”. I’m here in Gotland (in the capital of Visby) for a new music festival, in which my friend Hampus Norén is premiering new works. Last night we heard his beautiful first composition in a grand old church. This morning we walked along the town’s medieval walls, came back, and played the piano (this piece performed by the amazing Christine Everö). If the best way to start a tour is in an Icelandic … Continue reading