David Lehnberg, born, raised and still a habitant of the cold and northern city of Gävle, Sweden, has reached the age of 25. Come June, his fourth album as Ariel Kill Him, “Named After Youâ€, hits the streets.
What in year 2000, with the release of his debut album “She Wears The Stars Like Him†(2000, The Diving Empire) was considered a one-off project, has now - six years later - become David’s main occupation. Six years documenting David’s extraordinary evolvement as a musician, from being a singer/guitarist to producing, arranging, programming, playing the piano, the drums, and the bass etcetera.
In preparation for this recording, David decided to record and produce the album by himself. Jesus Lo-Tech, his own studio, was upgraded and what turned out to be an extended process begun. The lack of time pressure provided an opportunity to explore new work methods, but it also led to periods of insecurity and difficulties in completing the recording. To David, it was important not to overelaborate just because the opportunity was provided. He wanted to keep the music spontaneous and sincere. To do so, David tried to do everything different from what he was used to. With some exceptions, he didn’t write the songs on his guitar. Instead, he started with the melodies and the rhythms, and thereafter assembled the songs. Also, he put a lot of effort in making an album - a context for the songs – as opposed to just collecting a bunch of random tracks. To create a more dynamic sound, he invited Mia Ström and Elin Lindfors to back up his vocals (who he also have the new project The Deer Tracks with). Even though this album has a more electronic sound than its forerunners, David points out that the songs are more organic and stripped down this time.
Growing up during the 90’s, David was deeply influenced by the alternative indie/emo scene in the USA with bands like Mineral/The Gloria Record and The Get Up Kids in the front line. Nowadays, David’s main influences are electronic acts like Múm and Dntel. He also mentions fellow Swedes Sagor & Swing and Stina Nordenstam as well as his heroes Pink Floyd.
Ariel Kill Him’s last album, “In the Pyramid†(2003/Kasual), has done well all over the world. It was licensed to the USA (Eyeball Records), Japan (Howling Bull), Mediterranean (Librarian/Cydonia) and Germany (Strange Fruit) and two European tours followed. Ariel Kill Him has a big and dedicated fan base, proven by a quick look at his website or at his profiles on major music sites like PureVolume (80k+ listens) and MySpace.
Besides Ariel Kill Him, David spends his times as the singer/songwriter of epic indie-rockers Ikaros, whose debut “Speak Music†was released last year through Kasual. He was also the singer of Leiah, who did three albums and 10+ European tours before they ceased to exist a couple of years ago.
With “Named After Youâ€, yet another chapter is written in the book of a huge talent. Not all 25-year-olds are about to release their eight full-length album, are they?
Johannes Svensson / Kasual Recordings
