David Josephson

The suffering artist

 

– David, since you’re a new artis on our roster I thought I might as well ask you a couple of questions. First of all, who are David Josephson?

I’m a Swedish songwriter with literary ambitions in his early 30´s. I’m also – amongst other things – an actor suffering from shyness and a poet who enjoys the non-written. But first and foremost I’m a songwriter and a struggling singer.

– I see I see, I also understand that you have left Stockholm for Berlin, how come?

I left Stockholm the summer I turned 29. With an approaching 30´s crisis, a depression and a general disappointment about my life and what was – not – happening with my artistic ambitions, it seemed like the right thing to do. Berlin seemed somehow to be able to offer a different kind of life.

– And talking about living in Berlin, would it not be easier if you sang in english, I mean, how is it you’ve chosen Swedish as singing language?

Yes, it would be much easier to sing in English – but I have a tendency to go for the complicated, but for that sake not better, solutions. To broaden the answer it should be said that I do have some ambitions with my lyrics and to write in a non-native language is simply a tricky thing to do – if you don´t want to compromise with the quality. It definitely requires another approach. Not to say that I never write in English, I have written and still write many songs in English. And yes again, it certainly is problematic to live in a country and write in a language that people don´t understand.

– I also know that you have previously released an album. Can you tell us anything about it and if the one your about to finish right now is different in any way?

Yes, I released one record before called “Farväl tristesse” – where the title imitated Francoise Sagan´s novel “Bonjour tristesse” but inverted it, not greeting but rather saying goodbye to sadness. It was recorded during the first year since I moved to Berlin and has more of a singer/songwriter/folk-vibe. It consisted of songs I had written during a long period of time so some of them were, personally, a bit outdated . This new record “Drömmaskinen” is strongly connected with my life the last couple of years. Stylistically it feels like this new record also captured my intentions in a directer way.

– Okay, last question, if you only could choose one artist, band, that has meat something special for you, which one would it be?

I choose Leonard Cohen. I´ve been quite obsessed with him for ten years or more. He´s a great songwriter and his lyrics stands on a level of it´s own. And he´s really an artist in the sense that he investigates what it is to be human – and turns it into something beautiful.

– Then I (we) know a little bit more about the person behind the name David Josephson, thanks a lot and good luck with everything.

You’re welcome.

Leave a comment