Amanda Bergman shares new single and b-side
AMANDA BERGMAN SHARES NEW SINGLE ‘POOR SYMMETRY’ ALONGSIDE B-SIDE ‘CITIES’
NEW ALBUM YOUR HAND FOREVER CHECKING ON MY FEVER OUT 7 JUNE VIA COWCOW RECORDS
PLAYS SHOW AT LONDON’S THE SOCIAL ON 11 JUNE AS PART OF EUROPEAN TOUR
“Two extraordinary new songs, lifting her art to a different space entirely”
Clash
“Amanda Bergman has managed to bottle pure peace on this new release”
4.5/5 Far Out
“There is a stoic quality to Amanda Bergman’s voice on ‘Wild Geese, Wild Love’ that elevates both her feelings and the song itself above and beyond wounded heartbreak and onto something that is altogether more transcendental”
God Is In The TV ‘Tracks of the Week
’Listen to ‘Poor Symmetry’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGUQ333Ri4o
Listen to ‘Cities’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN1oQURDKbs
Watch a live version of ‘Poor Symmetry’ here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfvjUTmZOlk
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Amanda Bergman will release her new album Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever on 7 June via CowCow / Redeye. Following previously shared lead singles ‘Wild Geese, Wild Love‘ and ‘Day 2000 Awake‘, she has today followed up with new single ‘Poor Symmetry’ along with its b-side ‘Cities’.
Speaking of ‘Poor Symmetry’ Amanda says:
“Written on the Swedish Island Gotland, we recorded a demo of it as were about to catch the ferry. After that I forgot about it for a long time. We tried to re-record it and we did some other versions, but we ended up using this demo despite its imperfections.
The song itself is written in a time period where a lot of my closer friends were going through big separations. It’s fascinating how we in our westernised culture spend such an enormous amount of energy connecting to one single partner, most often trying to master the impossible art of trying to meet another person’s full pallet of needs and wishes whilst still trying to be completely self-preservative and true to oneself. Almost always a person becomes a complete stranger to their former partner. Some more than others have a skill/weakness to move on very quickly and sometimes that looks quite terrible from the outside – it’s like cheating in a game. And you can’t decide whether it’s something very life-affirming or simply moral decay.”
‘Cities’ meanwhile is one of those rare b-sides that proves the album just scratches the surface of what Amanda is capable of.
Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever contains within it a remarkable breadth of all that life can throw at a person, winnowed down into welcoming, approachable miniatures. Painted in lush, orchestral brush-strokes that spread like the vast expanses of Amanda’s home on a working farm in rural Sweden, or bring into focus the detail of the lessons learned (or learning) across a career as a musician, an environmental activist, a farmer, and a mother. This is held together by a rare voice – one with a warmth that strikes right to the heart and a distinctive texture that makes it like no other.
In the years following the release of her debut Docks – a success in her native Sweden but due to its limited release a record destined to become a lost classic elsewhere -, Amanda’s life has undergone dramatic change. Initial years were spent touring both her own music as well as with Swedish band Amason. She supported and found fans in a wide community of musicians and artists including the likes of Bon Iver and First Aid Kit (many of whom write Amanda regularly wondering about new music). It wasn’t long though before she packed this life up and started up her farm, not only a fully working farm which she and her partner Petter Winnberg run together, but one which is trailblazing in its approach to sustainable and ethical farming. This initially didn’t leave much space for music. Add two kids (in the space on 1.5 years) into the mix and there’s even less.
Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever is the hard-won result of Amanda finding the space for music again and of re-finding her own place in the world. “Music can, in short moments, be the answer to life”, she says, “It has the ability to fulfil one in that way. Turn seconds of life that would otherwise pass inevitably to meaningful, transcendent ones. I mean what would humanity be without music? To me it’s very fundamental. It’s not just because I find it enjoyable. It’s because I truly depend on it and believe in it”.The album was mixed and produced by Petter Winnberg, recorded between Atlantis Metronome in Stockholm and their own farm studio (which also doubles as their CowCow label office, and as the music venue they started together, Rockbonden).
High-res images are available here
Photo credit: Julia Mård
Pre-order Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever here:
https://ffm.to/amandabergman-yourhandforevercheckingonmyfever
Your Hand Forever Checking On My Fever tracklist:
1. Wild Geese, Wild Love
2. I Love Him Til I Love Him Right
3. Day 2000 Awake
4. Poor Symmetry
5. My Hands In The Water
6. Offset Island
7. The World Is Tired Of You
8. Sign Of A Past Life
9. Thought I Didn’t Wake You Up
Tour dates:
4 May – Grängesberg, SE @ Cassels konserthus
5 May – Bollnäs, SE @ Träkyrkan
7 Jun – Oslo, NO @ Kampen Bistro SOLD OUT
11 Jun – London @ The Social – TICKETS
14-15 Jun – Stavanger, NO @ Mablis Festivalen
28 Jun – Malmö, SE @ Annelundsgärden
29 Jun – Hammenhög, SE @ Garaget
3 Jul – Falkeröd, SE @ Falkeröd café & lada
4 Jul – Borlänge, SE @ Alive Festival
26 Jul – Östersund, SE @ Storsjöyran
27 Jul – Linköping, SE @ Skyltens innergård
28 July – Bjärred, SE @ Bjerreds Station
4 Aug – Stjärnsund, SE @ Smedjan
9 Aug – Halmstad, SE @ Galgbergsfestivalen
7 Sep – Trondheim, NO @ Havet
8 Sep – Bergen, NO @ Landmark
9 Sep – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
15 Sep – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
16 Sep – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub
18 Sept – Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn
19 Sept – Paris, FR @ Pop Up du Label
23 Sep – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
24 Sep – Cologne, DE @ Jaki
25 Sep – Brussels, BE @ Botanique
26 Sep – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtwache
28 Sep – Umeå, SE @ Powerpose FM
Tickets are available here:
https://linktr.ee/amandabergman