Loney Dear is the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of Swedish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen (born March 26, 1979). He has self-released four albums of music in his native

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. His first major release came in February, 2007 in the U.S. when

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

re-issued his album '' Loney, Noir''.

History

Emil Svanängen self-released his first album, ''The Year of River Fontana'', in 2003. Recorded in the basement of his parents' home in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...

with a minidisk microphone and a home computer, released on home-made

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

s, and sold only through his website and at live performances. The album became popular solely on word-of-mouth. The next two years saw Svanängen record and release three more albums. Loney, Dear appeared on the song "This Boy" from

I'm From Barcelona I'm from Barcelona is a Swedish pop group from Jönköping, Sweden, best known for its 29 band members and eclectic mix of instruments such as clarinets, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, banjos, accordions, kazoos, guitars, drums, and keyboards amo ...

's 2006 album '' Let Me Introduce My Friends''. In 2006, Loney, Dear was signed by

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

record label

. Sub Pop released Loney, Dear's fourth album, ''Loney, Noir'', on February 6, 2007. In 2009, Loney, Dear joined

Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...

as he toured to support Bird's January release of ''Noble Beast''. Loney, Dear did a Ukulele Session for the Belgian newspaper

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...

, recorded in New York. His album ''Loney dear'' was nominated for

IMPALA The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Germa ...

's European Album of the Year Award. In 2017, Svanängen was signed to

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

Real World Records Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at ...

. “I am delighted that we are able to work with Loney dear, who I heard Jennie Abrahamson playing while we were on tour. I think he is an extraordinary talent and should be recognised as a great song writer. He may be Europe’s answer to Brian Wilson.” A self-titled album was released in September of that year. Real World released a 50-minute conversation between Peter and Emil In 2021, Loney Dear released the album ''A Lantern and a Bell'' on

. Image:Loney dear mg 6562.jpg, Emil Svanängen Image:Loney dear mg 6604.jpg, Malin Ståhlberg Image:Loney dear mg 6560.jpg

Discography

Albums

*''The Year of River Fontana'' (2003, self-released) *''Citadel Band'' (2004, self-released) *''Loney, Noir'' (2005, self-released) *''Sologne'' (2006, self-released, Dear John/ Loney dear recordings) *'' Loney, Noir'' (re-issue) (2007,

USA/Australia/New Zealand.

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

rest of world) *''Dear John'' (2009, Parlophone.

Polyvinyl Record Co. Polyvinyl Record Co. is an American independent record label headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The label also has satellite offices in New York, Austin, and the Bay Area. Polyvinyl has put out over 400 releases to date. The Polyvinyl roster ...

USA) *''Hall Music'' (2011,

) *''

Loney Dear Loney Dear is the pseudonym of Swedish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen (born March 26, 1979). He has self-released four albums of music in his native Sweden. His first major release came in February, 2007 in the U.S. ...

'' (2017,

) *''A Lantern and a Bell'' (2021,

) *Atlantis (2022,

) **

Singles

*"Hulls" (2017, Real World Records) *"Sum" (2017, Real World Records) *"December Lilies" (2017 Woah Dad!) (later pulled due to move to Real World Records)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Swedish indie pop groups Sub Pop artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)