Electronic Music Artist Tor Lundvall Builds Critical Buzz with Latest Release

New England, September 2006 — Each year in the world of music there will arise names out of somewhere hidden in the underground to a prominent place in the favorites lists of critics & fans.

In times when the elusive idea of ?multimedia? has come to be demanded everywhere, how many artists can you name who are delivering seriously memorable work in more than one medium?

Meet the singular, New York-based musical solo artist & painter, Tor Lundvall, now unveiling his most remarkable musical release to date, Empty City, on the new Strange Fortune label.

Tor Lundvall is perhaps currently best known for his extraordinary paintings, which lure the viewer irresistibly into his mysterious shadowworld, where lost souls wander amidst ravishing landscapes of supernatural power.

Anyone not already seduced by Tor?s visuals is advised to dive into his online gallery, at torlundvall.com You won?t regret it, but you may never come back out again.

The paintings are just one part of this story, as Tor spends the rest of his time crafting his themes and unmistakable aesthetic into the even more appropriate, ethereal realm of sound.

Tor Lundvall?s major musical releases to date have been highly atmospheric, mainly consisting of a four album cycle based on the four seasons: Autumn Calls (with Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus), Ice, The Mist, and 2003?s celebrated Under the Shadows of Trees. Last Light (2005)

On his own words…

I’ve been writing and recording my music for about fifteen years now. Although my artwork is presently the more dominant of the two pursuits, my music has continued at a steady pace. I believe both fields are closely related. Whether I?m writing a vocal piece or an instrumental, I always approach the music from a visual perspective.

I was always interested in music as a kid. Besides the huge impact of Star Wars and video games, electronic sound in general was fascinating to me. My first tape recorder/radio was a constant companion and far more interesting at the time than the piano, which I had been studying rather reluctantly since the age of six. The radio had a short wave band which I searched endlessly, discovering strange and otherworldly sounds at each turn of the dial. My fascination with sound continued to grow when I got my first synthesizer at age thirteen. The Sequential Circuits “Pro-1″ was the first instrument that would propel me into the realm of experimental music.

Electronic and experimental music was not something readily accepted in mainstream America during the late 70’s and well into the 80’s. It was a thrill, therefore, discovering musicians during my highschool years who were doing innovative things with sound. One of my favorite bands was early OMD. Their first four albums and B-sides combined beautiful sound experimentation with a strong sense of melody and composition. My interest then steadily progressed to more extreme experimentalists such as Coil, Cabaret Voltaire, and :Zoviet*France: to name a few.

I finally started fooling around with a 4-track in 1989, and although it is a primitive and limited tool, it has been invaluable to me over the years. I’ve been able to push the machine to its limits, enjoying the simplicity it offers.

My music has evolved over the years from early pop songs, to a more ambient sound, which I find difficult to describe or categorize. I suppose one could call it ‘ghost ambient’! I approach my music in a visual way, starting with a very basic idea and slowly building on it. The tracks are essentially paintings with music and their titles usually reflect the contents. I have also gained a new respect for the piano over the past several years, which plays a major part in my recordings. Although I tend to use electronics and samplers, I always approach music in a natural, organic way. All samples are created at home, usually in the bedroom. I loath patch presets and use them only rarely. In fact the process of recording is so complex, that the ‘equipment used’ section printed in my CD booklets is basically useless.

I find that my recent recordings are becoming progressively more instrumental and ambient in nature, although the music still retains a strong sense of melody. As with my paintings, my music has always existed in a private world of it’s own.

One of 2006’s best reviewed albums in the electronic music underground may just be shaping out to be Tor Lundvall’s _Empty City_.

Tor Lundvall is a New York-based artist who likes to call his flavor of electronic music “ghost ambient.” The underlying melodic structure of the music means that _Empty City_ might rank as the most listenable “ambient” release you’ve ever heard, while it’s all drenched in a moody, haunted atmosphere that is Tor’s real trademark.

Following is some of the press reaction to Tor Lundvall’s _Empty City_, 2006.

“Hauntingly beautiful”
– Terrascope

“A masterpiece of evocative, melancholy ambient.” (5/5)
– Regen

“Probably the best ambient album in 2006 so far.”
– Calmscape, May 2006

“Empty City is groundbreaking and breathtaking.”
– Electroambient Space

“Haunting textures for urban dreamers and well recommended.”
– Connexion Bizzare

“a must for lovers of dark atmospheres and still summer evenings.”
– Heathen Harvest

“like a town glimpsed through a break in the mist…. Lundvall captures this rich tapestry of evocative ambience beautifully with Empty City.”
– Igloo

“Lundvall’s chosen theme is full of potential, and he delivers.”
– Ambient Music Guide

“quite simply a must hear recording for any fan of dark melodic ambient music.”
– Lunar Hypnosis

“some of the year’s most well-crafted, addictively settling music.”
– Chronicles of Chaos

“haunting yet warm and familiar”
– Star’s End

“Strange voices. Metallic echoes. Ghost melodies. Warm and very, very agreeable.”
– Soleilnoir

“you’ll hardly come across something similar and as convincing.”
– Filth Forge

“Certainly one to watch in contemporary ambient music.”
– Musique Machine

“Tor Lundvall is the real deal, licensed to chill”
– Mick Mercer

“Tor Lundvall digital=vamp to the brain universe that compressed the acidHUMANIX infectious disease of a chemical=anthropoid with the era respiration-byte.”
– Kenji Siratori, author of Blood Electric

“I strongly recommend you pick this disc up.”
– Royce Icon

“It’s a great album to get lost in for awhile.”
– Almostcool

Tor Lundvall’s _Empty City_ is released in 2006 and promoted & distributed by Strange Fortune.

_Empty City_ is the fastest selling release of Tor Lundvall, and it is the current fastest selling title at independent music distributor Strange Fortune.

http://www.torlundvall.com
http://www.strangefortune.com