Carl Liungman’s music reflects an unmistakable blend of Pop ballads, classical piano virtuosity and New Age atmospheres. Among his sources of inspiration are Arvo Pärt, John Legend, Max Richter, Coldplay, Hans Zimmer, Keith Jarrett. The album SHINE reveals 13 original piano pieces and is even more intimate and personal than the previous album BORN released in 2020. Carl Liungman has an ambition of letting his music create existential messages and give the listener reflections of the core of life.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Carl Liungman, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
Thank you for having me. I remember folk rock music festivals in the 70s that my mother visited together with me aged 5.
Then I also remember when I in the age of 8-10 discovered tv serial themes in The Macahan Family and Dallas. And I played them by ear on the piano. In the same age I started to listen to The Beatles and Mozart from my mother’s LPs and music tapes in the living room.
Then I started taking piano lessons every week for several years. In my teens I played piano in school concerts and won some talent shows in Sweden.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
I have my studio in my home. Live in a house in the countryside and can play anytime I want, which is great when I get inspiration and instantly can record it. Of course my other daytime job make me have to leave the music making behind sometimes.
Your latest release is 'Shine'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
It was a spontaneous creative process in my home during a couple of weeks. I was alone recording my songs and afterwards I came in contact with a friend from the former Swedish rock back The Ark, Jens Andersson. He is a songwriter and keyboard player and a great sound engineer. He sound mastered the recordings gave me hints of re-record some of the songs in a more calm mood and we came up with giving the album a more intimate lo-fi sound with barely no reverb effects.
Where did you get the inspiration for this album?
For many years I have been influenced by the great Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett as well as the Swedish Esbjörn Svensson. But my son introduced me to the French Neoclassical pianist Riopy and I was very moved by his life story and music. I am also a big Coldplay fan as well as a fan of John Legend and other piano based pop music. My girlfriend Malin (songwriter/artist Carla Barks) helped me focus more on the unique style of mine that she saw great potential in. Making the songs for SHINE was a kind of therapy to myself after some years of hardships. I also was a lot influenced by singer/songwriters like Martha Wainwright, Olivia Broadfield and Greg Laswell.
How long did you work on the 'Shine'? Was it an easy process for you?
My debut album BORN was kind of a late bloomer debut for me where I wrapped up the musical style I developed during the 2010s. Before the making of this album I wrote music for short film, published piano songs on SoundCloud and played live on smaller occasions. The music on SHINE was already during the BORN creation taking shape in my mind. It was like many years of creating music suddenly started to flow and rush into releases. While BORN was a grand piano/big studio recording with more outgoing energy SHINE became my intimate personal diary project so to say. Quiet piano music spontaneous recorded in my home on a smaller piano. The process was quite easy and the album was created in a flow during the Autumn of 2022.
How do you know when a work is finished?
Good question. I often play the piano like in a state of improvising on prepared themes or chord progressions. Even if I make instrumental music I build my songs on common verse refrain interaction. But some works are more free made and I let the songs finish when it feels right inside of me. It is as some songs have to grow and I have to let them rest for a while and I get back to them later on finishing them.
Can you write what was your best performance in your career? How do you remember it?
I must say one of my best performances was in a church in Stockholm on a Steinway grand piano. I was alone and recorded it spontaneously. You find it on my YouTube channel. It is rather lousy sound but I am glad I did record it to save it for other people to hear. Was a special feeling that night inside of me. Check it out! But of course there are other great performances. Hard to recall them all.
How do you find yourself in the music business? When you started out in music, did you know it would be like this?
No, who knew in the early 90s that music would become available as water in a tap? There are some serious issues when it comes to getting paid for the music if you are an artist not reaching out enough commercially. But there are also great possibilities in this digital distribution system. And I try to stay positive. The old system had its hierachy in the business too, and it was hard to reach out if you was not signed on a label. Today the DIY system have potentials never seen before. But the copyright based payment system is challenged big time today. We seem to be in a shift of the payment models and I am afraid there will be some music makers not getting along with this shift.
Who is your favourite musician?
Impossible to point out only one person. As mentioned before I have to mention the late Swedish jazz pianist Esbjörn Svensson. His technique was fabulous. And I also want to mention the Swedish Classical pianist Peter Jablonski. But of course the Bach piano master Glenn Gould, and the legendary Keith Jarrett. And of course Jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans are like Gods. 😊
What are your plans for the future?
I plan to make film music if the right options appear. And to do collaborations with other musicians. Cello would be great to add to my piano songs. A dream collaboration with a singer would be with the Icelandic Björk. She was my musical stepping stone for my creativity in the 90s and early 2000s.
Now in January 2023 I have two album release solo piano concerts in Sweden, one in my hometown Malmö where I grew up in Southern Sweden.
And of course new piano music will be coming up soon in 2023. A Neoclassical piano concert will be released as an album. And I want to do some new solo piano music the more traditional jazz genre again.