A Lanky Swede

Sometimes you have to abandon all that is familiar in order to become someone new. Such was the journey of Ola Klüft and how he became “a lanky swede.”
Unfolding like a fairy tale, Ola Klüft and his band The Perishers entered the musical limelight amid big arenas and high profile music production. After a few years silence, Klüft is back and he’s doing it his own way: alone.His solo project a lanky swede is intentionally an antithesis to everything grand and hyped-up. It is a brave ?journey back to the simplicity of the basement.
The swede was born in Ume?, a town in northern Sweden where the sun never sets in the summer but the winters are long, arctic cold and dark. Ola has always walked his own path, most of all musically. When hardcore punk dominated the local scene he started The Perishers, a band that bet their popularity on slow pop music, filled with moonlit melancholy.
It was a bet that paid off. The Perishers were lauded by both critics and fans for their low-key melodies and ?Ola’s mesmerizing singing voice. They released three albums and toured Europe, Asia and North America headlining and opening for such acts as Aqualung, Mew and Sarah McLachlan. Songs by The Perishers were also frequently featured in popular television series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Veronica Mars, The OC, One Tree Hill and 16 and Pregnant.
After ten years as a band, The Perishers took a well earned break. Ola Klüft followed his heart to Canada, ending ?up - ever so slightly lost and bewildered - in Vancouver. This is where, after many long walks among the old trees in Stanley Park, a lanky swede began to emerge —initially just as a few melodies floating around in Ola’s head but soon developing into something bigger.