We’ve talked a lot about Loney Dear here at TLOBF. So much so that our very own editor Rich Thane felt that after writing over 35 posts on the Scandinavian songwriter, it might be best for someone else to take up the reins on this one. Otherwise it could be deemed borderline virtual stalking.

Jonkoping, Sweden’s native multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen returns on the back of last album Dear, John, this time stepping back from the microphone. ‘What Have I Become’, taken from the musician’s forthcoming LP Hall Music, features soothing lead vocals from collaborator Malin Ståhlberg.

Svanängen makes his presence clearly felt though in all other ways, arranging the track beautifully: balancing lucid and settled melancholia with faint optimism and the juxtaposing of glittering percussions with sorrowful string arrangements.

Loney Dear – What Have I Become

Hall Music will be released in Europe on 3 October via Something In Construction and through Polyvinyl in the US on 4 October.