''Röd'' (
Swedish for ''Red'') is the eighth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by Swedish
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. It was released as
digital download exclusively through the band's website on 5 November 2009 and
physically on 6 November 2009. The first single from the album, "
Töntarna
"Töntarna" is a song by the Swedish alternative rock band Kent. It was released as the lead single from their eighth studio album, ''Röd'', on 5 October 2009. Two additional remixes by Punks Jump Up and Familjen were released on Kent's digital ...
", was released as digital download on 5 October 2009. The song "Svarta linjer" was performed on the television talk show
Skavlan
''Skavlan'' was a Norwegian-Swedish television talk show hosted by Norwegian journalist Fredrik Skavlan. It premiered in Sweden on Sveriges Television (SVT) in January 2009, and the first guests to appear on the show were former Prime Minister ...
on 30 October.
''Röd'' is available in a standard edition and a deluxe edition box. The deluxe edition box version features the 11-track
CD, a
USB flash drive
A flash drive (also thumb drive, memory stick, and pen drive/pendrive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. A typical USB drive is removable, rewritable, and smaller than an optical disc, and u ...
with high quality
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
files as well as
AIFF AIFF may refer to:
* Audio Interchange File Format
* All India Football Federation, the national governing body of Association football in India
Film festivals
* Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
* Alexandria Internation ...
files, three 10"
records which between them contain the whole album, and a 118-page book containing lyrics, abstract pictures and photographs. Due to distribution difficulties the deluxe edition was delayed until 11 November 2009.
Background
Lead singer
Joakim Berg
Herbert Joakim "Jocke" Berg (born 16 March 1970) is a Swedish singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Kent.
Biography
Berg was born and grew up in Eskilstuna. He moved to Stockholm in 1993 after the fou ...
announced on Kent's forum on 21 April 2009, that the band had started writing songs for the album in 2008 until the beginning of April 2009 and subsequently the band had begun the recording of the album. The album is produced by Kent and
Joshua
Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
, who also produced the band's
previous studio album.
Eight out of 11 songs were recorded in the concert hall
Meistersaal
The Meistersaal is a historic concert hall in Berlin, Germany. Built in 1910 as a chamber music concert hall, the building today enjoys protected building status. It is located in Berlin-Mitte near Potsdamer Platz. Its major claim to fame stems fr ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. It was originally part of the legendary
Hansa Tonstudio
Hansa Tonstudio is a recording studio located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany. The studio, famous for its Meistersaal recording hall, is situated approximately 150 metres from the former Berlin Wall, giving rise to its former nickna ...
from the 1970s until 1991, but has since been used as a location for events. Kent had to set up their own recording studio, with the recording costs being around 3 million
SEK according to Joakim Berg.
Critical reception
Anders Nunstedt of ''
Expressen
(''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden. Describing itself as independent liberal, was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or " to your rescue".
The newspaper awards the cultu ...
'' wrote: "The fact that the album was recorded in Berlin, in the Hansa Tonstudio where U2, Depeche Mode and David Bowie reinvented themselves, also says a lot. The band's eighth studio album captures the sound of a European metropolis at night, while sounding unmistakably Kent. Jocke Berg sings about highways and jet planes as well as small-town road crossings and giving someone a ride home on a bicycle.
..''Röd'' is certainly no ''Vapen & ammunition'' - it will be hard to find more than two working radio singles here - but the sound is world class and the quality shines through in every track."
Markus Larsson of ''
Aftonbladet
(, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries.
History and profile
The newspaper was founded by Lar ...
'' wrote: "The grandiose synth symphonies contain everything from acoustic guitars, techno beats and arena rock drums. Often in one and the same six-minute long song. It might have been unbearable to listen to if Kent didn't constantly anchor the music in fantastic melodies. Those who grow forth and illuminate the darkness in, for example, 'Vals för Satan (din vän pessimisten)', 'Sjukhus' and 'Idioter' are among the strongest songs the group have written. ''Röd'' is, above all, proof that the best pop music is always a mixture of anger, resistance and despair."
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Röd''.
Kent
*
Joakim Berg
Herbert Joakim "Jocke" Berg (born 16 March 1970) is a Swedish singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band Kent.
Biography
Berg was born and grew up in Eskilstuna. He moved to Stockholm in 1993 after the fou ...
– music, lyrics, vocals, guitar
*
Martin Sköld
Martin Sköld (born 2 October 1970 in Sparreholm, Södermanland) is a Swedish musician who played bass and keyboards in the Swedish alternative rock band Kent. Alongside lead singer Joakim Berg he was responsible for writing the band's music.
...
– music, bass, keyboards
*
Sami Sirviö
Sami Sirviö (born 28 May 1970) is a Sweden Finnish musician and former lead guitarist of the now discontinued Swedish rock band Kent.
Biography
Sirviö formed Kent in 1990 along with vocalist Joakim Berg, bassist Martin Sköld, drummer Markus ...
– guitar, keyboards
*
Markus Mustonen
Markus Mikael Randolph Mustonen (born 20 January 1973) is a Sweden Finnish musician who played drums, keyboards and piano in the Swedish alternative rock band Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East En ...
– drums, backing vocals, keyboards, piano
Additional musicians
*Yngve Sköld – leader of the "Tonalerna" choir on track 1
*
Johan T Karlsson
Johan Tommy Karlsson (born April 10, 1976 in Hässleholm) is a Swedish techno/electropop artist who uses the alias Familjen (, "The Family").
Biography
Karlsson grew up in Hässleholm, Skåne (the same town as fellow electronica producers Andreas ...
– choir on track 3, 9
*
Johan Renck
Bo Johan Renck (born 5 December 1966) is a Swedish director of music videos, TV and film. He was originally a singer-songwriter from 1991 to 2001, using the moniker Stakka Bo, and had an international hit with his single " Here We Go" in 1993. R ...
– choir on track 6
Technical
*
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
–
producer
*
Joshua
Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
– producer,
recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
,
mixing on track 2, 3, 10
*Stefan Boman – mixing on track 1, 5, 6, 9
*Simon Nordberg – mixing on track 4, 7, 8, 11
*Martin Brengesjö –
instrument technician
*Sebastian Meyer – assistant
*Henrik Jonsson –
mastering
Artwork
*Annika Aschberg – photography
*Makode Linde – photography
*Thomas Ökvist – design, photography
*Helen Svensson – design
*Dora Kovács – girl on the cover
Kent FAQ
/ref>
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
*
Röd
' at Discogs
Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rod
2009 albums
Kent (band) albums
2000s Swedish-language albums
Albums produced by Joshua (record producer)