Sofia Talvik about the album: 2011 was a busy year for me. I worked hard to get an artist visa to the US, preparing for a tour that might go on for as long as two years. At the same time I wrote and recorded a new album. Now that I ve landed in my tour in the US it s also time for my new album to land. The Owls Are Not What They Seem& is a collection of 12 new songs. My musical journey started out in 2004 when I recorded Blue Moon and me and my musicians all gathered in a basement studio in Stockholm recording acoustically and almost all the instruments at the same time. After that I tried a more common way of recording in layers, adding instruments upon instruments. For my third album I hired a producer, Tobias Fröberg and for my fourth album Florida i experimented with a bigger soundscape with more drums than I had ever used before. For The Owls Are Not What They Seem I went back to basics. After having done an acoustic solo tour for my album Florida Acoustic in 2010 I felt I was in my best element when I was playing and singing at the same time without the restrains of headphones and click-tracks. So I decided to make an ablum that was the essence of that me. Just something I could record in my bedroom without the pressure of a big production, time and opinions from others. All the songs on The Owls Are Not What They Seem are recorded that way. Me - playing and singing at the same time, then sparsely adding other instruments to enhance and highlight where I thought it was needed. My goal was to keep it down and make an acoustic album with a live, organic feel to it. I had no interest in changing the world or inventing something new. I just wanted to make a beautiful acoustic album. Credits: All songs written by Sofia Talvik. Vocals, guitar and piano by Sofia Talvik except track 12 piano by Martin Hederos. Bass by Janne Manninen except track 1&7, bass by Sofia Talvik. Cello by Christian Hörgren. Drums and percussion by Joakim Lundgren. Flute by Mattias Bååth. Trombone by Kristoffer Jonsson. Pedal steel guitar by Anders Pettersson. Violin on track 3&11, by Hanna Ekström. All additional instruments by Sofia Talvik. Additional vocals on track 3 by Pontus Borg. String arrangement on track 11 by Christian Hörgren. Produced, mixed and edited by Sofia Talvik except track 7 mixed and edited by Hans Olsson Brookes. Mastered by Linus Bille A/D Union; analogdigitalunion.com. Cover photo: Jonas Westin and Sofia Talvik. Picture editing and Graphic design: Sofia Talvik.