Fredrika Stahl - Tributaries (2008)

Champagne, sun and romanticism are the three lights we come away with after listening to Fredrika Stahl. Her first album, A Fraction of You, released in 2006, reflected an eternal summer in whose warmth the grace of a carefree singer full of vitality lovingly melted. One year later, still not yet twentyfive years old, she was already enjoying a rich existence that easily ermeated musical and geographical frontiers.

When she was just four years old, Fredrika Stahl left Sweden with her family to settle in France; at twelve years old, she returned to her native land, then at seventeen left Sweden once more for France. This twisted tourniquet, simple on the surface but complex underneath, was not the easiest experience for the young woman, torn between her two tempting life sources. Like sailors who, once ashore, dream of the sea and when at sea, dream of dry land, Fredrika has had to learn to manage this contradiction in her existence.

When she left again for France at seventeen, it was to sing, dance and "do something with my life". She also hoped to rediscover her childhood in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. But her old school friends from the International Lycйe had all disappeared. So Fredrika set her gaze straight ahead, resolutely determined to accomplish her artistic ambitions. At first, she worked in bars and boutiques, marking time, then some months after her arrival, a producer came into the "Bitter End" in Saint-Germain, a pub where she had been working at the time. She showed him a demo, he listened to it and introduced her to Tom McClung, Archie Shepp's American pianist who "initiated me into the world of jazz. I owe him a lot."

For Fredrika, newly enamoured of jazz and a fervent admirer of Ella Fitzgerald, inspired by jewelers of pop like Jewel and James Taylor, a singer with undoubted talent, her dream began to take shape. A Fraction of You immediately boosted this unknown artiste into the realm of international recognition and acclaim with 30,000 disks sold. Fredrika was also noticed during the Revelations competition at the prestigious jazz festival of Juan-les-Pins, at Olympia and at Enghien, preceding Herbie Hancock or opening for Lionel Richie, in Germany, before an audience of 6,000. She only had to consolidate and amplify this wave of positive feeling. Fredrika set to work. She composed almost all the tracks on her second album on guitar and piano, in a pop mood. Then, little by little, the idea came to her to render homage to the various musical currents or tributaries feeding into the principle river (Mainstream), flowing back towards her dream or real countries, Sweden and America. Luck contributing much to her travels, her path crossed with that of Monumental Mismatch, an unpublished song created by two legends, Mike Stoller and Norman Gimbel. The Leiber-Stoller duo wrote Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock and a myriad of classics for the Coasters, Elvis Presley and others. Gimbel wrote the lyrics for Killing Me Softly and Girl from Ipanema. "I have the same publisher as they do", she said. "So he made Mike Stoller listen to my first disk, he liked it and suggested I sing an unpublished song. He thought that this work, that sounds like a standard jazz composition, would suit my sort of voice. Although I had wanted to put just my own compositions in the album, I couldn't refuse an offer like that. So we organized an arrangement with a big band in the background. An incredible gift!". The album follows several currents: ragtime swing (Oh, sunny day), written on "my out-of-tune piano", a French-style waltz with accordion, "Pourquoi pas moi?", a touch of the Slav written in Swedish (Dina Ogon Bla), a light bossanova (My Favourite Boy), etc. Her lyrics go straight to the heart of everyday human existence. The funky Irreplaceable repeats the critical comments of people close to Fredrika with whom she has shared a roof: family members, boyfriends, friends. "The song talks about what makes people irreplaceable. I've made a list of the bad habits people have criticized me for. I never turn off lights, for example. I also leave wet towels on the bathroom floor. And I never change the trash bag which gets so full it almost explodes!" She still smiles about this. Fredrika also sings about love in Stuck On A Stranger. "Falling in love with looks - that's happened to the best of us." The waltz Pourquoi Pas Moi?, sadder in mood, recounts an unrequited passion, symbolized by the melancholic title. She dips into her own experience each time for her lyrics and her first single “So High” and new album, Tributaries, cleverly reflect the sensitivity of a traveler accompanying a group consisting of a Japanese pianist, a Norwegian guitarist, an Italian drummer and a Brazilian bass player. Among them all, they form a fertile map of the globe, human tributaries around the Amazon.

Track List:
1. Monumental Mismatch (3:24)
2. So High (3:12)
3. Pourquoi Pas Moi? (3:39)
4. Irreplaceable (4:00)
5. Stuck On A Stranger (4:14)
6. Oh Sunny Sunny Day (3:01)
7. One Man Show (3:37)
8. I'll Win Your Heart (3:04)
9. Dina Ogon Bla (3:11)
10. The Damage Is Done (3:58)
11. One Man Show (Home Made) (3:06)



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