Striking a fascinating balance between beauty and sadness, Swedish artist boerd takes us on another downtempo journey with his Misplaced LP.
Often when an artist releases a new album, I’m excited to analyze the music in an attempt to identify the evolution of that artist. And sometimes that evolution isn’t about changing with the times, it’s about how the artist can stay true to their origins while being relevant as the music scene changes around them. The latter is the case with boerd and if he released a new album that sounded substantially different, I’d probably be disappointed.
His latest album, Misplaced, continues in the boerd tradition of organic, downtempo tracks that when together as an album are a dark yet relaxing journey. His sound is so uniquely his and I’m loving that his evolution has built on this rather than altered it.
When I listened through this new Anjunadeep release the first time there was a backdrop of melancholy as I was dealing with something personally. I immediately felt like the music was written precisely for me and this mood. It’s a little dark, but it finds a way to push out a lightness from the darkness that is very natural and relaxing.
Take a listen to the latest release from boerd on Spotify below, purchase or stream Misplaced on your favorite platform, and read on for some extra thoughts on the album.
Stream boerd – Misplaced on Spotify:
“Within this record, I tried to craft sounds that balance beauty and sadness,” says Bård Ericson (a.k.a. boerd).
I’d say he did more than balance and actually builds beauty out of sadness. It’s remarkable and such good music to sit with and contemplate. It’s also perfect ambient music that can blend into the background to power through the workday. And when I say “blend into the background” I don’t mean that it disappears. On the contrary, it seems to enhance the environment in a way that can be very energizing.
“Seeing and meeting him in Albania was one of the biggest highlights of the trip. Misplaced is hypnotic and haunting. It’s a great edition to his discography and I hope to see more from him on Anjuna. I just wish he would come to NYC!”
— boerd Super-fan Ashleigh Maier
“Hypnotic and haunting” is the perfect summary of this album.
It was two years in the making for boerd and was mostly created at his family’s summer house in the woods of northern Sweden. I’ll bet there were times that the quite of nature and the creation of this album were hypnotic and haunting for him, too. And the result is unadulterated beauty in sound!
boerd – Misplaced – Tracklist:
- It Fades Away
- Someone
- Silver
- Little Else
- 39 Celsius
- Before We Drown (feat. Stella Explorer)
- Sanctuary
- Look
- Gem
- Mud
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