Track by Track: sir Was on Says Hi

The recent City Slang signee, née Joel Wästberg, says of the project: “To reach the point where I could let myself do this was a long struggle. But once I felt less scared, it was kind of easy. It just came out, like: ‘This is the sound!’”

sir Was never lingers long in one stylistic area - Wästberg dips into genres but this blurring of pop, electronica, soul, and more exists in its own universe.

Stream the EP below, and read the Track By Track guide after.

Falcon

I was in Paris at a pet shop, more precisely a bird store. There was a lot going on with the birds and people were talking too. I just recorded it with my phone. Ironically it’s called Falcon, which obviously is a bird, but I honestly never thought about that until after it was released. A friend said that the press got it wrong; I am not singing about the bird but the beer called Falcon!

A Minor Life

I was out walking in Santiago de Compostela in Spain and walked past a guy who was standing outside an old castle and playing bagpipe. Again, I just recorded it with my phone and yeah, it fit perfectly with this song - it needed just that.

Near Here

I was in my old rehearsal space in Stockholm (I lived there for two years) and in the room next to mine there was a really nice marimba. There were a couple of rooms next to each other with great instruments in them and I was often there alone so I sneaked in there in the evenings and recorded on a Steinway grand piano and then this great marimba. I met that guy (the marimba guy) not so long ago but I had forgotten that I used it without his permission. He can never prove it’s his on the recording, I mean there are a lot of marimbas out there!

Crushed

In my studio, where I am sitting writing this, there was a nice old Moog that another guy left behind, and that’s where I found that trembling kind of sounds in the choruses. That keyboard was great. It’s unfortunately not here anymore but I have since replaced it.

Watch the video for "A Minor Life" below. The Say Hi EP is out today via City Slang.