Album songs：
Album Intro：
In 1994 Swedish vocalist Sophie Zelmani and producer/guitarist Lars Halapi began a collaboration that 16 years later must be labeled the most persistent, and certainly one of the most successful in Swedish pop history. Apart from consistent platinum sales in her native country Sweden, Zelmani had also reached out in countries such as Germany, Japan, Austria and Switzerland.
「I'm the Rain」 is the eighth full-length album result of the unique interjunction between Zelmani's low-voiced songs and the calm Halapi soundscapes.
The expressions on the album are undeniably 「Zelmanic」. But the songs are nevertheless the results of an at times new way of working together.
The forerunner of 「I'm the Rain」, the 2007 album 「The Ocean and Me」, was at parts recorded as a session effort 「live in the studio.」 When Zelmani's faithful mix engineer Pontus Olsson –who she had worked with since her debut in 1994 – passed away to cancer in the spring of 2009 Zelmani & Halapi chose to proceed on the path the trio were on before his death.
Zelmani today recalls her thoughts on the sad news about Olsson:
「To me it could, after that news, end up more or less a set of demo sessions. Simple, straight on, nu fuzz. Everything was so different when our beloved engineer was gone. I couldn't even consider a full-blown recording set-up.」
Halapi says about the recordings in his countryside studio in southernmost Sweden through spring and summer 2009:
「Sophie would play me a short outline of a song. I returned some thoughts on pace, the number of verses, the key, or just general encouragement. After that I left, did some gardening and let her work on her own. After a couple of hours she called for me and it was time to work. We decided on the format of the song and its final key, I arranged the mics, then we recorded with just our guitars.」
Sophie adds:
「In the end the band flew down from Stockholm and joined us on some of the songs. At that stage that was very nice and inspiring!」
The current Zelmani band includes new keyboard player Rickard Nilsson but also the familiar names of Peter Korhonen (drums) and Thomas Axelsson (bass). Zelmani and Halapi recorded through three October days the title song as well as 「If I Could」, 「Ready to Be Forgiven」 and 「Interior Design」. The latter is an improvisation, both musically and lyrically. Zelmani and Halapi only had two chords and some key phrases. The vision was to create a meditation over the feeling 「the dream house」 and all the longings associated to that ideal scenario. The band was solely presented the key to the song.
Sophie Zelmani muses on the title 「I'm The Rain」 as a follow up to an album called 「The Ocean and Me」:
「One could wonder about my obsession with water. I'm actually afraid of water! But it's also something that deeply fascinates me…」
Swedish mix guru Ronny Lahti was picked to the somewhat difficult task of replacing Pontus Olsson. Halapi pays tribute:
「With a newly plastered foot Ronny did a magnificent job through five days in a Copenhagen studio.」
「I'm The Rain」 is a very tight album even by Zelmani standards. The songs fuse to a consistent melancholic mantra. It's music as a reliable friend, it's music that works as a healer. It's Sophie Zelmani music.
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