The I'm Kingfisher Interview

You know I love my Swedes. This is who I am unmistakably am. And it's intrinsic to my nature as being bald is to Dr. Phil and having a big ass is to Kim Kardashian. So when I heard of the artist known as "I'm  Kingfisher," I just had to give him a chance.


What is there to say about Kingfisher aka Thomas Denver Jonsson? Well, he's both indie pop and anti-folk. His FOURTH solo album, Arctic, has just been released. There is a trilogy going forward (exciting) and he lives in Lund, Sweden most of the time.
And there is more to this man than that obviously. READ ON: 


How would you describe your music to someone unfamiliar with it?


Thomas:  I currently describe it as a mix between indie pop and anti-folk. When I
started about a decade ago I labelled my music as lofi country, then
proceeded through the descriptions alt.country, americana and indie/folk.
I know I might not do too extreme steps here, but my very long time plan
is to  go seamlessly into white noise. It's the 30 year plan though.


(as usual I ask the lame questions and the artist answers)


What will you remember most about 2011?


Thomas:  It was a good year, both musically and personal. I thought that 2010 was a
bit of a downer, but 2011 really was a keeper. For shows, each one had
something that made it special and that is one reason why touring is so
fantastic. Demanding but fantastic. To mention a few highlights, it was
really special to open for Damien Jurado at a sold-out Södra Teatern. I
also loved the super small festival Kalvaslakten where some of the best
indie acts in Sweden performed for a sold out festival that released 150
tickets in all.

What do you have on your horizon?

Thomas:  Right now, I've decided to be a bit calmer on the touring first half of

2012. Demanding was the word, you remember? I will surely do a few
concerts, but the focus will be on the recordings of my next album. I plan
to release that in about a year, and jump back on the horse entirely then.
I'm currently in a very exciting phase of the recordings when most of my
stuff already is cut and we're now directing guest contributions. It's
such a lovely feeling to notice the songs taking shape, sometimes in a
slightly new direction.

Your new album was a conceptual album about Arctic expeditions- what led to that idea?

Thomas:  I read a bunch of novels by Swedish author P O Enquist and really loved

the way he is playing with blending fact with fiction. That inspired me a
lot to find an environment for the themes I wanted my album to be about.
The polar expeditions felt perfect to decribe identity, doubts, pushing
yourself, going on a quest where you don't really know what you're looking
for. That, and the fact that I really admire Fridtjof Nansen.


You are recording right now? How would you describe your newest
work?


Thomas:  The next album, is going under the project name "The Bird Album", and will
be the happiest, and most pop influenced album I'm ever able to create. I
mean, it's not pop, but it'll be pop the way I think that Arctic is a
blues album. The upcoming album is also the second part of an album
trilogy. When Arctic was about striving, the second part will be about
succeeding and the third part about losing. The third part is still a bit
sketchy even if I have most of the material written. I'm seeing that as a
VERY acoustic album though. Acoustic but loud. One step closer to white
noise.

awww

THANK YOU I'M KINGFISHER!

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