Peter von Poehl

Songs are like public transportation for all. They take us places. But some suddenly run off the rails that we have built for them, heading for an unexpected adventure. This is what happened with Going to where the tea trees are, a modest 45 (yes, a 45) recorded by an almost unknown Swede, Peter von Poehl.   A cosy song which sounds like it was recorded in an igloo. It began to get play on French radio last year. Sudden developments followed; listeners bombarded radio switchboards for information; an influential Los Angeles producer was the next to succumb; then sales began flowing through Peter's website. Word of mouth and blog to blog, a persistent and affectionate rumour about the single grew into a modern-day legend.

Now that this famous song has given its name and given rise to Peter von Poehl's first album; now that its infectious charm is about to increase the toll of victims tenfold; it's time to know more about Peter. Thirty-three year-old Peter, Swedish by his mother and German by his father, arrived in France in 1998. A musician in search of adventure, he quickly hooked up with Bertrand Burgalat, who hired him to play guitar in a determinedly left- of- centre boy band which Burgalat was putting together to serve the various needs of his Tricatel label. Peter turned the eclecticism of these projects into an intense apprenticeship in all areas of music, from song writing to studio recording and live performance.

Encouraged by Burgalat, he composed and wrote, giving himself time to mature and to let his style settle, making serious work friendships along the way thanks in no small part to his happy nature. Resident since 2004 mostly in Berlin, Peter acted as producer for German musician Florian Horwath while putting the finishing touches to the fragile and noble material that now makes up his first album.

Recorded partially in the Swedish countryside (in the AGM studio of co-producer, Christoffer Lundquist in Vallarum) and in Peter’s Berlin apartment, Going to where… shows that the music took advantage of the basic surroundings it was recorded in to emerge as a lively, vibrant recording, lacking artifice but loaded with inspiration.

So let’s keep fans of loud sounds and high tuning at a distance, because Peter von Poehl’s first album isn't loud-mouthed. Not that its high ambition in composing and arranging isn't unmistakeable. Between folk ballads and pocket symphonies basking in boreal luminosity, a slow pulse or a wistful heart, the 12 songs (and a hilarious appendix) form an album throbbing with so many shapes and colours, several listening are recommended to grasp its full effect.

Peter gives us as many faces as musical facets, without ever giving the impression of being stretched too thin, too widely. There's a reason for this, because behind the fragmented prism of these first offerings, there's a vague unity to all the songs that is departure, wandering, strolling, and belonging. Threaded through everything is that troubling notion of being a foreigner in your country and feeling adrift in your own home, as if you could be anywhere. But this modern troubadour, new wave folk singer isn't going anywhere. Peter von Poehl will be with us for a long while to come. So don’t miss your chance to see Peter von Poehl at Osheaga on September 9th!

www.petervonpoehl.com