Loney, Dear

Loney, Dear represents the one-man endeavor of Emil Svanängen, a Swedish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist working within the chamber-pop realm. Born in the modest city of Jonkoping, he launched his creative output in the early 2000s by layering overdubs onto homemade tapes that yielded fragile, folk-tinged indie pop reminiscent of Belle & Sebastian, Neutral Milk Hotel, and the Magnetic Fields. Operating under the Loney, Dear moniker, he independently issued three CD-Rs—River Fontana Redux, Citadel Band, and Sologne—through his personal site. Growing attention on MP3 blogs and emerging online platforms prompted Sub Pop to sign him in 2006. His first widely distributed full-length, Loney, Noir, surfaced in early 2007, coinciding with the formation of a complete band ensemble that enabled his initial tour outside Sweden. Dear John followed in 2009, while 2011 brought Hall Music, an album whose richer orchestral textures reflected his experiences performing alongside various Swedish ensembles. After a period of reduced visibility, he resurfaced with isolated tracks that included reinterpretations of earlier material as well as a featured appearance on Johan Agebjörn’s “The Leftovers.” Live performances persisted, and he began composing and tracking his sixth studio effort, which emerged in late 2017 under the name Loney, Dear on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records.