User:Jcmmanuel/My Empire of Sound

My Empire of Sound is a Scandinavian electro-pop duo consisting of John Alexander Ericson (from Sweden) and Sidsel Marie Søholm (from Denmark). Their most recognizable major musical influences are probably Portishead, Pj Harvey, Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode, and the two artists also mention Fever Ray, Leonard Cohen, Lykke li and even Jacques Brel among their musical inspirators.

After they released a couple of self-released songs on the web in 2011, the male-female duo had a serious hit within the indie music blogosphere in 2011 with their debut single "Early Morning (A New Beginning)", which became the most popular new track on Indie Rock Cafe with over 10,000 streams and downloads, and reaching No. 2 in the Scandinavian Chart Base Top 100. In addition, the band also recorded "For The Lovers You Left Behind".

Early Beginning
John Alexander Ericson, originally from the university town of Uppsala, Sweden, a one-hour-drive north of Stockholm, established his own studio in Berlin upon moving from London where he lived with his family for a few years. His father Peter R. Ericson is a renowned Swedish musician and songwriter. Sidsel Marie Søholm is a Danish singer and "one of the performers that night and her voice blew me away" as John Alexander said. The two met in a bar in Berlin in 2011. "We started chatting and decided on the spot to start a band together". A few weeks later they started recording in Alex´s studio in berlin. On the first session they tracked "Early Morning (A New Beginning)" and "For The Lovers You Left Behind".

There's a very scandinavian feel to the songs, very pop and at the same time slightly melancholic. "Tracks like Star Waltz, Early Morning and Carry Us Home definitely have a very uplifting feel to them" says John. The final track, Tech Noir, is a six minute orgy of distorted drum machines and synth arpeggios. The duo’s new album The Confession Of The Machines has been available through their webshop since 2013 and also had its digital release. It is chock full of great songwriting and interesting synth music, beat machines and a multitude of instruments.

Music Publishing
Ericsons vision on the publishing process: "I'm signed to Misty Music Publishing in Sweden but we're releasing the album on my own label Warsaw Recordings. We haven't really gone label shopping. I've previously worked with both major and indie labels, but I honestly don't know if you really need a label these days. I think most bands right now are trying out different approaches to releasing music.We justed signed a licensing deal with a label who´s going to release the album in Mexico and I can imagine doing more things like that, but I would't want to sign a label 'exclusive'. Not the way the industry looks today. Feels old fashioned. I want to own my own music."

Discography

 * Early Morning (A New Beginning) (Single) - 2012
 * For the Lovers You Left Behind (EP) - 2012
 * In A Perfect World (Single) - 2013
 * The Confession of the Machines - 2014