Nicolai Dunger (born 4 February 1968) is a Swedish singer and acoustic songwriter from Piteå in Sweden. He has released twelve EPs and albums, singing primarily in English, and collaborated notably with

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

, the

Esbjörn Svensson Bror Fredrik "Esbjörn" Svensson (16 April 1964 – 14 June 2008) was a Swedish jazz pianist and founder of the jazz group Esbjörn Svensson Trio, commonly known as e.s.t. Svensson became one of Europe's most successful jazz musicians at the tur ...

jazz trio and

Ebbot Lundberg Torbjörn "Ebbot" Lundberg (born 26 February 1966)''(In)visible Dialogues'', 2011, p. 170. Published by Dent-de-Leone. . is a Swedish artist, songwriter and music producer who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. From 1995 to 2012, he was the lead singer ...

. He also records under the alias A Taste of Ra. He uses his full real name of Claus Wilhelm Nicolai Dunger for composing credits but this has caused confusion with some tracks being credited to two separate "composers" Claus Wilhelm and Nicolai Dunger.

Biography

A Swedish-born singer who falls under blues, folk, jazz, soul music. A former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player, Nicolai was signed by the Telegram label of Warner records, releasing two albums that did not sell enough copies to enable him to give up his part-time job as a gardener. A meeting with

of the Swedish band

The Soundtrack of Our Lives The Soundtrack of Our Lives, often abbreviated T.S.O.O.L., was a Swedish rock band that formed in Gothenburg in 1995 and disbanded in 2012. The band's style draws heavily from sixties and seventies rock and punk, such as Rolling Stones and Igg ...

led to two further albums, a tour with

Emilíana Torrini Emilíana Torrini (born 16 May 1977) is an Icelandic singer and songwriter. She is best known for her 2009 single "Jungle Drum (song), Jungle Drum", her 1999 album ''Love in the Time of Science'', and her performance of "Gollum's Song" for the 2 ...

and the use of one of his songs in an advertisement for an oil company. This small influx of cash enabled the production of a trio of vinyl albums with the

jazz trio. This steady production of somewhat experimental acoustic music attracted the attention of Americana luminaries

and

Jonathan Donahue Jonathan Daniel Donahue (born May 6, 1966) is an American rock musician. He is best known as the frontman and a founding member of Mercury Rev, with whom he has released nine studio albums since 1991. He is also a former member of The Flaming Lips ...

, and a contract with the

Dolores Recordings Dolores Recordings is a Swedish record label owned by Telegram Studios, whose roster includes I'm from Barcelona, Swingfly, Caesars and some releases by The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Dungen. In May 2021, Dolores was acquired by Round Hill Mu ...

branch of

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

followed. The first album on this label, ''Soul Rush'', with backing from the Esbjörn Svensson trio, attracted some limited attention in 2001, but the next album, 2002's ''Tranquil Isolation'', achieved widespread attention, especially thanks to its input from Will Oldham. A third album, ''Here's My Song, You Can Have It'', followed in 2004. He has featured on both

Nina Persson Nina Elisabet Persson (; born 6 September 1974) is the lead singer and lyricist for the Swedish rock band The Cardigans. She has also worked as a solo artist, releasing two albums as A Camp and one under her own name, and has also appeared as a ...

's second "A Camp" record, and on Maia Hirasawa's album ''GBG vs STHLM''.

Discography

* 1996 ''Songs Wearing Clothes'' * 1997 ''Eventide'' * 1999 ''This Cloud Is Learning'' * 2000 ''Blind Blemished Blues'' * 2001 ''A Dress Book'' * 2001 ''Soul Rush'' * 2002 ''Sweat Her Kiss'' * 2002 ''The Vinyl Trilogy'' * 2003 ''Tranquil Isolation'' * 2004 ''Here's My Song, You Can Have It...I Don't Want it Anymore'' * 2006 ''Sjunger Edith Södergran * 2007 ''Rösten Och Herren'' * 2008 ''Nicollide and the Carmic Retribution'' * 2009 ''Play'' * 2010 ''Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Vallmo'' (duo album with Jonas Kullhammar, released on vinyl only in 300 copies) * 2011 ''Ballad of This Land'' * 2022 ''Every Line Runs Together''

Trivia

Nicolai's song "Something in the Way" was featured in a Volvo commercial in the U.S. in July 2008 Nicolai's song "Dr Zhivago's Train" was recorded by Robert Palmer on his album "Drive"

External links

Official website

Short biography

Review of Tranquil Isolation
at

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunger, Nicolai Living people People from Piteå Swedish alternative country singers 1969 births Zoë Records artists