David Fridlund Offers Free EP

You don't get more indie than Swedish musician David Fridlund. I'm not sure what he's doing right now to support himself, but it could very easily be something as tiring as delivering the mail, working all night in a bakery, or driving a taxi. This is a talented guy and in a perfect world he, and every artist like him, would be able to live well by making music, but it's not a perfect world, is it? So, that's why we have to do a little something to make it a tiny bit better, that's why we have to seek out something special to make us feel better and that could be just about anything from the special someone to share our life with, or something that may appear as trivial as a few songs that make us smile, dance, sing, and write about on the internet. I Saw My Reflection And I Didn’t Recognize Myself (download the zip file through the link) is the title of a four song EP that has been available as a free download on his band's website since his birthday two months ago. Fridlund has fronted the band David & The Citizens since 1999 and they've released three albums and six EPs in that time and David had released (sadly) only one solo album, Amaterasu, in 2004 (read my review of it here and read my interview with David Fridlund here). What has prompted me to finally write about the free EP is the wonderful song "With Every New Day". It's been on my mp3 player for close to two months now and has quietly grown into what I was mentioning earlier, something special to make me feel better. He may be singing about how terrible things are at that point in his life, but he's using the power of a strongly melodic pop song to lift himself and the listener out of the pain he, and we, can find ourselves mired in. This is what David says about the song's origins:

"With Every New Day" was written early 2007 in a period of my life when everything was really fucked up. I was in a place that felt like hell. Everything was falling apart and people who I thought were my friends were showing sides of themselves that scared me and brought me to my knees over and over again.. I won't say I was suicidal, because that's not my style, but I was so sad and broken that I thought it would never pass. This song was an attempt to tell myself that there were still sparks inside of me. All I had to do was to get through whatever shit I was in and I would come out stronger on the other side, 'cause what doesn't kill you… All this time the phone was so quiet and I slowly realized nobody would call and ask how I was.

I love "With Every New Day", from the fantastic skittering drums, to the near mournful brass of the horns, to David's heart and soul stretched to the limit in his yearning vocal. There's much more to this song, but you should listen yourself, many times, then you should download the zip file. Included in the download are song lyrics, a long letter he has written about how he got to where he is today, and an address where you can contribute monetarily if you enjoy the music you hear. I encourage everyone to download the songs he's freely giving away, let the music sink in, and then make the world a more perfect place by sending some money. I also point you towards his myspace page where you can easily send a message of support, he'll truly appreciate it.

Here's the song that encouraged me to finally write this overdue post, sorry it took so long, David:

From the I Saw My Reflection And I Didn’t Recognize Myself EP
with every new day [mp3]

from his solo debut Amaterasu
april & may [mp3]


You can find David Fridlund's and David & The Citizen's music at eMusic. Check out eMusic's free trial offer of 25 DRM-Free downloads here.

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