Biography
Active since the late 1970s, Leif Elggren has distinguished himself as one of the most persistently inventive conceptual figures bridging audio and visual domains. Working across writing, visual art, stage performance, and composition, he has issued numerous recordings both alone and alongside the Sons of God through imprints including Ash International, Touch, Radium, and his own Firework Edition Records. Frequently devised as accompaniment to visual installations or experimental stage works, his pieces typically sustain carefully chosen sonic materials across extended durations, moving between hypnotically restrained electronics and abrasive noise. His most recognized conceptual endeavor remains the 1992 establishment of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, where he shares regency with Carl Michael Von Hausswolff.
Born in Linkoping, Sweden, in 1950, Elggren was adopted at age two and endured a challenging early life. Drawing became a sustaining focus, leading him after reaching adulthood to complete five years of study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm with an emphasis on design and book printing. During the late 1970s he connected with performance collectives, encountering Hausswolff and Thomas Liljenberg; with the latter he launched the duo Firework in 1978, which mounted exhibitions and live presentations. Around that period he also acquired a press to issue art books by himself and his associates.
In 1988 he formed the duo Guds Söner, known in English as the Sons of God, with Kent Tankred, whom he had first met four years earlier. The pair specializes in extended, enigmatic stage pieces that balance physical gesture or stillness with live or recorded soundtracks, exploring recurring motifs of violence, love, daily routine, food, and royalty. Elggren issued his initial 7-inch singles in 1982 and 1984 on Hausswolff’s Radium label, followed by the debut solo album Flown Over by an Old King in 1988. The 1996 founding of Firework Edition Records enabled broader release of his catalog, while the rising prominence of installation art within experimental electronica circles brought wider international attention to his output by the close of the 1990s. Standout solo releases include Talking to a Dead Queen from 1996 and Pluralis Majestatis from 2000. In 2001 he and Hausswolff jointly curated the Nordic room at the Venice Biennale.
Born in Linkoping, Sweden, in 1950, Elggren was adopted at age two and endured a challenging early life. Drawing became a sustaining focus, leading him after reaching adulthood to complete five years of study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm with an emphasis on design and book printing. During the late 1970s he connected with performance collectives, encountering Hausswolff and Thomas Liljenberg; with the latter he launched the duo Firework in 1978, which mounted exhibitions and live presentations. Around that period he also acquired a press to issue art books by himself and his associates.
In 1988 he formed the duo Guds Söner, known in English as the Sons of God, with Kent Tankred, whom he had first met four years earlier. The pair specializes in extended, enigmatic stage pieces that balance physical gesture or stillness with live or recorded soundtracks, exploring recurring motifs of violence, love, daily routine, food, and royalty. Elggren issued his initial 7-inch singles in 1982 and 1984 on Hausswolff’s Radium label, followed by the debut solo album Flown Over by an Old King in 1988. The 1996 founding of Firework Edition Records enabled broader release of his catalog, while the rising prominence of installation art within experimental electronica circles brought wider international attention to his output by the close of the 1990s. Standout solo releases include Talking to a Dead Queen from 1996 and Pluralis Majestatis from 2000. In 2001 he and Hausswolff jointly curated the Nordic room at the Venice Biennale.
Albums
Singles
