Hans Edler

Hans Edler stands out as a versatile Swedish singer, guitarist, and composer, recognized domestically chiefly for his pop work while earning international notice for the groundbreaking computer music album Elektron Kukéso (1971). He entered the world on March 23, 1945, in Stockholm’s Björkhagen district and launched his professional path in the late ’60s fronting the Ghostriders, a pop group shaped by the Shadows’ sound. In 1969 his trajectory shifted sharply when he embarked on a three-year endeavor at EMS (Elektroakustisk Musik i Sverige), an advanced Stockholm facility equipped with a room-size computer. From 1969 to 1971 he meticulously crafted computerized pop pieces that appeared on Elektron Kukéso (1971), issued via his own Marilla imprint. Though visionary, the album met with scant commercial success; its scarcity and eccentricity later elevated it to collector status. Boy Wonder Records brought it back in 2004, adding bonus tracks and upscale presentation.

Following the 1971 release, Edler kept issuing material on Marilla, starting with the sought-after Spökhistorier (1972). On that project actor Stig Järrel recites several horror tales, among them “Det Skvallrande Hjärtat,” a Swedish rendering of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, against unsettling electronic backdrops fashioned by Edler. Further Marilla titles from the decade encompass Space Vision (1979), a space disco album; Disco-Time (1979), a set of disco interpretations; and the multi-volume Jukebox Graffiti series of hit-parade cover albums. In subsequent decades Edler established himself as a 1960s revivalist, scoring one of his strongest later successes with the Top Ten album Remember the Sixties (2009), recorded alongside a string orchestra.