Scan Magazine

By Signe­ Hansen | Photos: Anders Thessing

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The unique and treasured Swedish singer Lisa Ekdahl recently visited London to perform songs from her new album “Give me that Slow Knowing Smile”, just released in the UK. Along with numerous other Scandinavian fans, we went to see the concert and talk to the artist.

Describing Lisa Ekdahl is complex; words like childlike, angelic and even peculiar all seem appropriate, but it is the unique mix of them that creates Lisa Ekdahl’s characteristic but intangible charm.

When the 38-year-old singer appears on the stage of the Queen Elisbeth Hall in South London, diva attitudes are absolutely absent. Preceded by her three musicians, she quietly enters to the sound of the piano, sits down and in her distinctive fragile voice almost whispers the lyrics of the enchanting “The World Keeps Turning”. The song is from her new album, her fourth in English, which features nine soft, nostalgic jazz and pop songs written and composed by Ekdahl herself. Mostly recorded in Ekdahl’s own home studio during the course of two years the album is, enthuses the singer, convincingly joyful, the product of abounding creative playfulness. “I had other musicians and friends, who just happened to come by, take part – maybe they tried playing something; there is a lot of choir on the album, that is actually my friends,” she laughs. “That was a lovely time; we put together some food and just hung out. Because I was recording over such a long period, little things like that just accidentally happened.”

The album was recorded using a lot of old equipment, including a 50 year old microphone and vintage synthesisers, giving it what Ekdahl describes as a warm slightly retro sound.

Mixing influences

After the first melodious song Ekdahl continues with the title song of the album the melancholic “Give Me That Slow Knowing Smile.” Wearing a knee-long black dress, a large black pearl necklace and red beret the singer does, with her slim figure and blonde hair, look like an enchanting mixture of a Parisian bohemian and a Scandinavian fairy. With her gentle gestures and soft passionate voice she never loses the attention of the audience through the next quiet but intensely beautiful songs. Then as the piano hits the tunes of the jazzy Billie Holliday song “Now or Never”, she stands up and with the audience clapping along, she performs a lively, joyful version of the song. Since the then 23-year-old Ekdahl debuted with “Vem Vet” in 1994, she has moved elegantly between different genres and sounds.

“I had my break-through with the songs I wrote myself, but I started as a jazz singer when I was 18 so I had that with me too. So maybe I have just been mixing my different influences a little bit throughout the years,” she says.

“Vem Vet” brought her overnight fame in Scandinavia, something which came as a complete shock to both her and her record company. Musically, however, Ekdahl was, despite her young age, not unprepared; as a child she explored different musical genres by listening her way through her neighbours’ and friends’ record collections. As a teenager she started writing her own songs and after playing one of them to a singer for whom she sang back-up vocals, she landed her record deal. Since then, she has recorded ten albums in an ever-changing combination of blues, jazz, folk, Bossa Nova and pop, but all of them uniquely Ekdahlian. “I think for me, something that remains the same is that I work with a lot of space in my music. I like to have a lot of space in the music and I also work with the atmosphere; I am looking for an intimate atmosphere in the music. So something is changing and some elements are there all the time,” she explains.

A childlike charm and goodness

Having rounded off Frank Sinatra’s “I Get a Kick out of You” Ekdahl breaths  “Can you feel the love”; more than a few among the audience give a little laugh or smile, the smile you would normally reserve for charmingly naive children. The smiles grow bigger as Ekdahl, after a couple of songs (including Björk’s “It’s oh so Quiet”) tries to cover her eyes from the light and look at the audience in the dark hall, “I am so curious to see who you are,” she says in her tiny voice and asks people from Scandinavia to raise their hands; one third do so. “You are all so very interesting, lovely and intelligent people,” she ensures us before continuing with the extremely beautiful, mellow “Beautiful Boy,” the last song on her new album.

Earlier she confided to me, “It happens to me sometimes that when I come out on the stage I just think that everybody looks so interesting. I just want to look at everyone, I am so curious about why they decided to come; what their relation to the music and to each other is and that kind of thing.” Laughing she adds, “It is funny when that happens because you can’t really start asking people.”

The singer found much of the inspiration for her new album in New York where she lived on and off for while, being previously married to the American guitarist and composer Salvadore Poe. “In Sweden I am very recognised in the streets whereas in New York I felt very much like I was just part of the city. I looked at people’s faces much more than I do here because here when I look at people’s faces they recognise me. I love to look at people and listen to them talk and all of that and that is difficult when people recognise you,” she says. Ekdahl, however, always kept her house in Sweden where she now lives with her teenage son.

Heartbreakingly beautiful

After the swinging performance of “Lazy Girl” it’s time for a just as grooving “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.” “This is the last song, but I just want to let you know that I am so happy you decided to come, without you it is just not the same,” Ekdahl enthuses. But of course the singer is called back for an encore and after calls from the audience she performs the night’s only Swedish song, “Öppna upp ditt fönster,” from her first album. But she has, I believe, saved the very best for last, performing her new album’s “One World.” A song that with its heartbreakingly naive, beautiful and yet insightful lyrics and melody maybe gives the best definition of Ekdahl possible.

“All of us came in through the same door, that much if nothing else I know is true…Now I don’t care if someone says I am foolish, cause while I’m here I’m singing from my heart,” she sings, leaving me and I believe much of the audience in a peaceful reflective mood as we head out through the London night.