Interview with the talented swedish pianist and composer. Philip Glass, Jan Johansson, Nina Simone and Radiohead among his artistic influences.
A young artist but with clear ideas and a lot of passion.
Music has always been a big part of my life. Growing up it was always a lot of music and instruments around me, I remember spending a lot of time at the family grand piano improvising and listening as a kid.
Growing up, how important was music in your life? Can you recall the moment when you decided that you wanted to be a musician? Was it an easy or difficult choice to make?
Music has always been a big part of my life. Growing up it was always a lot of music and instruments around me, I remember spending a lot of time at the family grand piano improvising and listening as a kid. I started to play violin at an early age and then went over to trombone, but piano has always been where my heart lies. Being a musician has always felt like a possible career, so it was not a particularly difficult choice. But it has not been an easy choice to work with my own music. I grew up thinking I would become a musician in an orchestra or something like that, so it as been a challenging journey for me to take my own music seriously enough to look upon it as a possible career.
Was there ever a time when you thought about doing something else? If you weren’t a musician today, what else could you see yourself doing? Would you be as fulfilled in life?
There has been lots of times when I have thinked about doing something else, but I has never really gotten close to go through with it. I like the office-hours of being a musician, so when I think about doing something else I use to think about some kind of office work. Maybe it will be so some day, but I don’t think I will work in a way that is not related to music in some way. I don’t know if I would feel as fulfilled in life. If I decide to work less with music I think I will work with something else that fulfill me, and I guess I will never stop making music either if I work with it or not.
Gustav reveals us ...
It is easy to assume that you have to work very much and that you have to sacrifice your selve to be able to work with music.
What has been the biggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been an unexpected or welcome challenge to it all?
It has been a challenge to find a balance to the work, and finding out that the balance is essential for making a good work. It is easy to assume that you have to work very much and that you have to sacrifice your selve to be able to work with music. But I think now that you have to find a balance and a situation in life that is good for you to be able to work with music for a living.
Let’s talk about your brand new project. What was the inspiration for this album? How do you think it prepares listeners for more music from you?
This project is something I have been thinking about for a long time. The inspiration is life and everything I am. This project is very much just me playing what I want to play and very little intellectual aims. I had an urge to record something that was just me. So I guess the inspiration is my combined experiences in life, musically and not. And I think playing the piano for me is a lot of meditation and processing things in life that might be too big or unclear to talk and think about. I can’t answer for how this music will prepare the listeners for future music. I don’t know what my music will sound like in the future, and either way it is up to the listener to feel what they feel when listening to future music.
What has it been like keeping up with your social media accounts and all of the different platforms? Is it hard to stay up to date on it all? What would you say is your favorite way to connect with your fans now? What has social media done for your career?
Over all I have not worked a lot with social media on this project, but I think about it a lot and think it is important, I have just not gotten as far yet. I will continue to evolve this, it feels like an important part of my career, so it can’t be done just because it is something you should do. It is important for me that it feels honest. And I also like to see my social media as a part of my art, that my music can be inspired by my social media, and that it is not just some kind of commercial. I almost only work with Instagram, it felt right for me to rather work with one platform and do it good than just be everywhere. But over all I guess I think it is important with social media, to be connected to my listeners, but I have not yet gotten where I want to be. But I hope I will get there in the coming time.
I am in a stage in life where I want to work more with people and less work on my own, that easily can happen when working with solo piano music. I want to work with musicians but I would also like to work with other artforms, like visual artists.
Who are some of your favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? Who would you absolutely love to work with in the future?
Lots ot musicians have inspired me. Not nessecaraly music that sound close to my music. But music that reaches me in some way. To give some names; Philip Glass, Jan Johansson, Nina Simone, Radiohead… I don’t have names of people I want to work with but I hope I will work with people more in the future. I am in a stage in life where I want to work more with people and less work on my own, that easily can happen when working with solo piano music. I want to work with musicians but I would also like to work with other artforms, like visual artists.
At the end of the day, what do you hope people take away from your music?
I hope that they will have had a good time listening to my music. I hope that it will have given them some comfort or a space to bee yourself, or a place to just get in contact with themself. It is not important for me how they listen, it could be in the background at work or on the commute. I am happy if my music gets to be a part of peoples days, but has not to take a lot of attention.
What are some goals that you have for yourself this year? How close are you to reaching them?
For now I will let the time go and be happy with the release of this album. Then I hope for new recordings, collaborations and releases. But for now I try not to think too much about the future, what comes will come.
Biography of the artist:
Gustav Davidsson is a producer and musician from Sweden. His solo work is formed around the piano, minimalistic composition ideas, reverb, improvisation and a longing for peace within, through sound. He started out as a child spending time at the family grand piano, improvising, composing and being amazed by the big and spacious sound of the piano. Sense then he has strived to find and explore this big sound, in the piano and through other means. After studying improvisation at the most well renowned schools in Sweden and has been a part of the music scene in Sweden, mostly around improvised and neo-classial music. He also runs a studio (Studio Glasfågeln) where he records mostly acoustic music.
He is now on the journey of letting go of intellectual aims and just making music close to his heart.
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