Interview with Frida Hyvönen

photo by Gösta Ohlund

Prior to crossing the Atlantic for a few select US dates, Frida Hyvönen and Culture Bully’s Chris DeLine discussed a few brief topics in a quick interview; touching on her aversion to the idea of being just another Scandinavian blonde and getting drunk in Italy. Hyvönen’s new album, Silence is Wild, will be released State-side on November 4, via Secretly Canadian. Her November 13 show show in New York will be Hyvönen’s last in America before heading back to Europe, where she will wrap up her 2008 tour.

Chris DeLine: Last year you recorded a song for Stereogum’s R.E.M. tribute album, Drive XV; which songs by other musicians are your favorite to perform?

Frida Hyvönen: At the moment “Jesus Was A Crossmaker” by Judee Sill and “Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison.

CD: In the liners notes of Silence is Wild you’re credited with playing a wide range of instruments – which is your favorite?

FH: The gong was fun to play but, at least in my hands, quite a limited instrument. I love the long grand piano at Atlantis. It was built for Bill Evans I believe.

CD: I really enjoy the lyrics for “Scandinavian Blonde” as they seem to play off of the subject’s stereotypical appeal. What was the inspiration for the song?

FH: Going outside of Sweden to play shows and realizing that some people I met,
would first and foremost see me or my friends as [a] stereotypical “Scandinavian blonde” – which was hilarious to me.

CD: As you continue to tour Europe which cities are you most looking forward to visiting?

FH: I really look forward to seeing Ravenna again. It was magic last time. The city in itself has a kind of dewy shimmer to it, perhaps it’s minerals, like the same air has circulated there for a long time and worked its way into the stone, so the houses are heavy and transparent at once. The streets are narrow and the religious art is detailed. My tour manager turned 25 when we were there and we filled the hotel room with auguri balloons, and got drunk off of grappa in a very tiny, very new car at a parking lot. Truly glamorous.

Frida Hyvönen “Enemy Within” [MP3]
Frida Hyvönen “You Never Got Me Right” [MP3]