Lakely is the musical project of Swedish based husband and wife duo, Anna and Jonas. Influenced by the likes of John Paul White and Gillian Welch, the pair have crafted their own unique blend of folksy Swedish Americana. We at Indie Top 39 first heard their beautiful single, ‘Cold War,’ a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with the track. Just a few days ago, the duo released their debut full length album, and we can’t wait to sink our teeth into it. We really enjoyed getting to know Anna and Jonas a little more, and think you will too!
A husband and wife musical duo is an all too rare thing these days. How does that dynamic shape the music you create?
We talk a lot. We’ve barely had a silent moment since we first met, it’s just how we process our shared lives. Every so often tiny embryos to songs appear in our discussions – it happens organically as we live our lives together. It could be either one of us on the couch – pouring our heart out about something that happened now or in the past – and that transitions seamlessly into lyrics.
We write to understand the world around us and the world within us, and living and writing songs together forces us to confront subjects that are uncomfortable.
LAKELY
At least until now it has only brought us closer together but it has definitely forced us to let go of some jealousy and replace that with a curiosity about the other person’s inner self and past experiences.
Musically, our tastes are almost freakishly identical. From always agreeing on what is best for the song down to both not liking ABBA. So when we start working on the music, all of our shared influences boil down to a musical setting for the narrative to live in.
I must admit, I’ve had your latest single on serious repeat the last few days. It’s so beautiful and melancholic. What does ‘Cold War’ mean to you?
Thank you – we’re glad that it speaks to you! A couple of years ago we met a friend of the family, and heard him talking about his life and how he cut all ties to his children. He had his mind set on what had happened, and made it clear that he would never give in and forgive them, no matter what. We found it fascinating that he didn’t want to take in the other side of the story, and when we came home and talked about this we started wondering where it went wrong and how he could remain so cold for so many years, blocking out all hope of reconciliation.
The song almost wrote itself that night, a cautionary tale to ourselves to not hold on to grudges – no one ever wins that kind of cold war.
LAKELY
You can feel the icy winter chills just by watching the ‘Cold War’ video. Serious dedication guys! How did you come up with the concept?
For us there wasn’t any other way to convey the message of the song than be quite literal with the lyrics – we had to become really really cold ourselves! It was horrible and we couldn’t feel our feet for at least a day after – but still worth it.
I’d never heard of Swedish Americana or Scandinavian Americana before I discovered you guys. Can you tell me a bit more about these genres?
Americana is definitely on the rise in Scandinavia and we’ve got quite a lot of artists exploring the genre since a while back. I think there’s many like us that are attracted to the organic sound and the storytelling – it feels honest. It’s an act of balance though, since it’s easy to become a pastiche mimicking your heroes. We’re not American and we don’t sound like cowboys no matter how hard we try.
We’ve been thinking that it’s an interesting turn – the roots of Americana stretches into most of Europe and you can hear some Scandinavian influence in there. Now that we’ve got Scandinavians doing their take on the genre, those genetics come out even more. That’s how we’re trying to approach the genre.
I read that your upcoming album was self-recorded in the Swedish countryside – that sounds absolutely dreamy. How was that experience?
Oh, it was. We called it ‘Happy Camp’ and spent all our days in the studio and all our evenings by the fireplace, taking breaks walking down to the lake just nearby. Well, trying to take breaks would be more accurate, since we’ve got a lot of hats on being both producers, recording engineers and musicians. We were lucky to find a studio in beautiful surroundings that had all the equipment that we wanted to create the sound we were looking for, like an old Hofner bass from 1963 to create that beautiful vintage sound in ‘Hindenburg’ and ‘Feels Like I’ve Never Felt This Way Before’ and some really vibey mics to bring out the soul of Jonas’ dad’s old guitar. We loved recording it there, and think the feel of the place definitely shaped the sound of this album.
It’ll be four years in September since you released your debut EP, Pockets Full of Sand. What lessons have you learnt along the way?
The most important lesson is probably patience. This album took us four years from the first song written until release, since we had a daughter in the middle of the process. She has really taught us patience, and that we have to take baby steps forward sometimes, but that’s fine.
Also, staying true to what we want to do. Sometimes when we think that the process of finding our way to our audience is too slow, it’s easy to think that we maybe should change to be more easily accessible to a bigger crowd. That thought just makes us sad.
Our music has to be honest, since it’s a way of living more than a source of income.
LAKELY
I can be quick to dismiss a band based on their name (it’s a problem – I know) but I love and was instantly drawn to Lakely. What’s the story behind your name?
We had this magic moment when we had to stay for the night while taking a roadtrip in Anna’s old Volvo. We just decided to try to find our way without a map, and ended up far away from anything except for this beautiful lake, the day before midsummer’s eve, when the sun doesn’t really set completely. It was just something about that place that felt magical. We’ve been trying to recreate that feeling with music ever since. While deciding on a name, we wanted the name to the essence of that, so we decided to call ourselves Lakely.
Can you tell our readers about the year that you spent living in Nashville, Tennessee and how it shaped you as musicians and artists?
We were both creating music over here and things were going quite well (Anna had a song played on American TV and Jonas was touring every weekend) but when we both would create music it just never sounded the way any of us really wanted it to. Eventually we decided to just follow the trail of the music we loved and move across the Atlantic, to really find out how it was recorded. We moved to Nashville and started to study Audio Engineering, and started interning at a couple of different studios.
We got really lucky, Anna was an intern at Zac Brown’s studio, Southern Ground, and got to meet a lot of the people we had admired from across the sea, and see how it all was recorded and done. At the same time, I guess by following our hearts, Anna had broken up with her boyfriend and the passion for music and life suddenly made us look upon each other with new eyes and fall in love. This was really chaotic since she just broke up from her boyfriend and loads of feelings just came to the surface, and to understand and process everything that happened we started writing music together.
We decided to record the songs that were written there and asked our idol and role model Shani Gandhi (Sarah Jarosz, Sierra Hull etc.) to record it just as much as a learning experience as a recording of the songs. We were completely starstruck by her and Gary Paczosa (since it was recorded in his home studio, built for Alison Krauss) and took the tracks home to mix them.
We were pretty homesick, felt like Swedish Aliens in Nashville. We L-O-V-E-D the city and all its possibilities and the way it was possible to go out just about any evening and listen to great live music, but we wanted to move closer to friends and family. After a year we packed our bags and moved back home. We had a bit of a writer’s block readjusting to everyday life back home, but found a creative place by Anna’s grandparents cabin in the north of Sweden and we started writing songs again.
What song do each of you love that you wish you’d written?
Jonas: Hate the Way You Love Me – John Paul White
Anna: Brother Wind – Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott
When you’re not creating music, what keeps you busy? Take me through a day in the life of Lakely.
Being a parent takes a lot of time and we both have jobs teaching audio engineering and songwriting, so between those and Lakely we keep busy enough for us to never have to wonder what we’re doing for the weekend. We also produce and record other artists in the same genre, so every day we’re throwing ourselves between the sandbox and the studio, trying to keep up.
What would success in the music business look like to you?
Success for us is reaching people with our songs – when someone lets us know that our song spoke to them it means the world to us. It would be great to be able to spend a little more time doing this too, travelling with our music, meeting new people and seeing new things.
Keith Richards said, “music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.” Would you agree?
Listening to music that someone else wrote and really feeling it almost seems like it changes your bone structure.
LAKELY
It’s amazing really how it connects us with other people and can share the burden of all those emotions that comes with being alive.
You’re allowed to collaborate with one musician or band. Who do you choose?
Dolly Parton. Always Dolly.
What does the future hold for you?
We’d be happy to tour some with the album when the situation allows for it – and then we’re gonna get right on and get busy with the next one!
Make sure to connect with Lakely
Introducing » Artists We Interviewed
This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
