Nicolai Dunger

Nicolai Dunger first attracted notice while singing and strumming guitar on a balcony in Piteå, Sweden, yet the Telegram executive who offered a contract soon grew uneasy with the avant-garde direction that followed. The resulting debut, Songs Wearing Clothes, reached almost no listeners. Talent alone secured a second opportunity, and Dunger next cut Eventide with the string quartet Tämmelkvartetten. That set moved even fewer units than the roughly 1,500 copies of its predecessor, leaving the artist, now based in Stockholm, to support himself through gardening work.

An encounter at Hultfredsfestivalen introduced him to Ebbot Lundberg of the Soundtrack of Our Lives; the pair elected to collaborate. Their first joint effort, the promotional-only EP First Born Track, appeared in 1998. The following year they tracked This Cloud Is Learning at the Soundtrack of Our Lives’ White Noise studio. Although still experimental, the album proved Dunger’s most approachable release to date. Lundberg’s involvement drew wider notice and positive reviews, while sales proved marginally stronger in France and England. Dunger subsequently toured the Continent as Emiliana Torrini’s backing musician.

During his absence the label licensed one of his compositions to an oil-company advertisement. Upon returning he voiced misgivings yet used the payment to finance Blind Blemished Blues, the opening installment of a projected vinyl trilogy. Recorded with Esbjörn Svensson’s jazz trio, the album reverted to more radical territory; only five hundred copies were pressed and sold exclusively through a modest online outlet. He soon completed the second LP, this time with trumpeter Goran Kajfes and the percussion ensemble Kroumata, though he chose to withhold its release.

Despite scant domestic following, Dunger’s habit of issuing unforeseen records, his countryside persona, and endorsements from Will Oldham and Jonathan Donahue kept critics attentive. The most contrary move available was therefore an accessible album, realized with Soul Rush in 2001. Once again accompanied by the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, he blended soul-inflected horns with country guitar textures reminiscent of early Van Morrison; the record outsold all earlier efforts without achieving major commercial breakthrough. Tranquil Isolation, an expansive Americana statement cut in Kentucky, surfaced on Overcoat Records in 2003, followed in 2004 by Here’s My Song You Can Have It…I Don’t Want It Anymore/Yours 4-Ever on Universal International. Nicollide & The Carmic Retrebution arrived in 2006, and Rosten Och Herren appeared the next year.