Sportsman

Per Magnusson, a Swede formerly aligned with the Stockholm soul-pop quintet the Sonnets, chose Sportsman as his solo alias. Once that group wrapped its exhausting 2010 world tour, he sought space for reflection and headed to East Africa. After time in Tanzania he reached a Kenyan shoreline facing the Indian Ocean, where the view prompted an immediate decision to craft music that mirrored the landscape. A discarded cigarette pack stamped “Sportsman” lying in the sand supplied the project’s name. Returning to Sweden, he exited the Sonnets, joined forces with production duo Montauk (already responsible for remixing the band), and began laying down demos. Issued in 2013, his first single “Rally” kept the ’80s influences that had shaped the Sonnets yet moved past their new romantic and blue-eyed soul leanings in favor of a more current atmosphere. The lush, ethereal, faintly melancholy ambient pop cut showcased vocals from his girlfriend Linnea Jönsson, previously of indie pop darlings Those Dancing Days. An EP titled Usher arrived next, and the single “Begin Again” appeared the year after. Magnusson spent several years shaping his debut album Neverland, which finally surfaced in mid-2017. Released on Best Fit Recordings and characterized by the artist himself as “a final farewell to my childhood,” the record was led by the beautiful single “Running on a Beach,” the clearest realization of his signature sound he had achieved by that point.