Track By Track: Pop cellist Linnea Olsson on For Show

Hall Of Tragedy

When I wrote the songs for this EP I explored a less pretty side of my music. The riff for "Hall Of Tragedy" came to me the minute I sat down behind the cello. I wanted it to feel like dirt, I wanted the sound to remind me of soil. The song is a reflection of the world. The lyrics are both about breaking inside and that your surroundings are breaking apart. The words are not clear, they're written in a poetic kind of style: "Say you're falling apart and I will name the wall of chains." "The wall of chains" refers to the number of things that are holding us back as humans - our conflicts, our prejudice, our lack of seeing further in to the future than what lies before our noses. "Hall Of Tragedy" is a dangerous place, a place that we are moving into, and we get more and more alone and isolated in there. It's a prophecy of the future and it is not bright. I have also made a stop-motion animation video for this song.

Weekend

"Weekend" was the first song I wrote for the EP. It was finished long before the others and it's something you can hear; the sound of the other songs are more cohesive whilst "Weekend" stands out. I look at it as a sister to my song "Giddy Up", from my first album Ah. "Weekend" is a song about escaping reality by "drinking your head off". It's a satire of a person who just wants to forget everything for a while and drink themself to a better place and a better self. The weekend has become holy, nothing can or will disturb the "36 hour lost contact with reality". They bottom line I guess is that you can never escape your own self no matter how hard you try. I made another stop-motion animation lyric video for this song.

Gone

All the other songs on For Show (except "Weekend") spring out of a two-string cello riff, earthy in sound and kind of grunge in a way. I got stuck on this way of writing simply because I really liked it. Further into the recording process I had to find ways to arrange the riffs so that it wouldn't get too monotone in sound. In "Gone", for example, I switch from the low strings on the cello and move the riff up, playing it softer during the verses. The lyrics are about seeing and hearing people. If no one sees or hears you, you don't exist. I thought about how it would feel to be in a position where people wouldn't acknowledge you as a person, but more as a problem. I also express the worry of people saying a lot of things before they actually know anything about what they are talking about. The importance of knowledge and the importance of seeing the person and not a dehumanized mass.

The Boat

I wrote this song when the images of the refugees coming in boats over the Mediterranean sea were starting to appear in the media. It was hard not to weave in what was - and still is - happening in the lyrics. I've been worrying that the words would feel presumptuous. Nevertheless, I've let the lyrics remain as they turned out in the first place. I made the decision that it's better to write about it than not to write about it. I wanted the sound of the song to reminisce a vast sea and a bright sun that burns, a feeling of a wind still water surface. The melody is like a children's rhyme, almost too simple and direct.

The Lonely One

I've gone to PJ Harvey as a sound reference for pretty much all the songs on this EP. I've admired her music since I was a kid. Let England Shake made an incredibly strong impact on me, I've been wishing to be her since that album. In "The Lonely One"'s tune I continue my two-string riff sound and make a song about having a hard time trying to get on with daily life. Sometimes getting out of bed seems impossible, and I try and capture that feeling through the music. I wanted the music to feel like anchors round your feet, to mirror the act of isolating yourself in order to figure out what is going on inside your mind. This song was the most difficult to get around in terms of arrangement and sound. I didn't want it to be easy to listen to, but still not too monotone and hard to digest. I changed a lot of things to try and get a bit more variation to it. It ends with fire works, I had this image of a person standing aside and watching others celebrate. I'm working on a stop-motion video for this song as we speak.