also Dan Swanö about Sörskogen
IL: Another band you and Mikael are working on together is Sörskogen. Are there plans to release anything or is it simply a just-for-fun side project you guys are toying with?
DS: Sörskogen is very much Mike's thing. I had just rebuilt my studio and needed to get some live action down there before I started to record my demos for what should later become Moontower (Deadlift note:released 1998). So I invited Mike to try some of his songs and that became "Mordet I Grottan" (The Murder in the Cave). I think Mike is taking it very seriously, it's very much his kind of "heart music".
IL: What does the music sound like?
DS: It's sounding a lot like early Camel mixed with early Genesis. Therefore we strived for a typical 70's sound with the muffled drums and the "dull-cotton bass" and Mellotrons, Moogs, etc. to match the music. It turned out great and people started asking for it. I always discuss the coolness factor of a whole album with that stuff, but now that Opeth's signed to Peaceville things are a bit harder. And now that I've started the giant Unicorn recreation project I will have no time left, I'm afraid! But I know it would rip!
Wikipedia about Sörskogen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sörskogen
Peter about Sörskogen
Tina: I also wanted to ask you a side project between Mikael and Dan Swanö -
Peter: Is it Bloodbath?
Tina: No, no - the other one, Sörskogen
Peter: Ah okay, that's the other one! Well, that was like a long time ago - he'd gone back home and had three songs in Swedish - you know, about where he was born or whatever (laughs) So he went down with Dan and recorded it at his studio at the time. Got drunk and had a good time, that was it. But actually… a part of that project is actually on Damnation - on "In My Time Of Need" there's a little vocal line that is from that project.
Tina: Wow, I had no idea! I heard Sörskogen and it sounded really mellow and proggy.
Peter: Yeah, but that was you know, at the time, it was a totally different thing. A very non-Opeth thing. But now that we had Damnation, it perfectly.
and lyrics in sweidsh and english
Swedish:
En sommar en gång
värmen sveper igenom
vi ler skrattande
men ett lömskt lugn infinner sig
någonstans i skogen
grottan där vi lekte som barn
en sargad kropp i evig sömn
berövad livets gryning
Vem var det som mördade honom
Vem var det som tog hans liv
ingen vet, ens idag
kastar mörker över vår idyll
Ett ljus som lyser ömt
ta oss mot bättre dagar
hans själ vandrar vidare
vi går sakta tillbaka
stigen leder oss hem
dagen har lidit mot sitt slut
vi försöker glömma
mordet i grottan
Vem var det som mördade honom
Vem var det som tog hans liv
ingen vet, ens idag
English translation:
A summer once ago
The warmth sweeps through
We smile, laughing
But a strange calmness take place
Somewhere in the forest
The cave where we played as kids
A harmed body, in eternal sleep
Robbed the dawn of life
Who murdered him
Who took his life
Nobody knows, yet today
Throw the darkness over our idyllic place
Light that shines
Takes us to better days
His soul wanders further
We slowly go back
The trail leads us home
The day is soon to end
We try to forget
The murder in the cave
Who murdered him
Who took his life
Nobody knows, yet today
cover all bases?