Back to the Electric Roots

Mikael Marin playing on his own, using distortion with the versatility of Jimi Hendrix may not be what he is best known for. We know him best as the discreet accompanist, with ingeniously simple and effective contributions to traditional style tunes, such as his collaboration with Ånon Egeland in the album Sorpesoll (2018), or closely interwoven as one of the Swedish acoustic trio, Väsen, for decades.

This EP came about by chance. At one point, during the recording of the album Farvel Farvel with Micke and Ånon Egeland, there was a small break when Ånon was going to get more tea; and Micke stepped on the effects pedal and began to play a song with bold turns on his electric viola. I immediately hit ‘Record’ and got the first tune recorded directly. Three more followed in quick succession.

For me, it was a bit of an ear opener to hear Micke playing tunes on his own, with an energy and self-confidence that you rarely hear. It also seemed quite obvious that he was playing with great fervour, thus reminding me that today’s guitar heroes are a type of musician with a direct connection back to the tradition’s heroes.

In good folk music collecting tradition, there are exclusively first-takes here. No edits or pitch corrections even though that’s easy to do today. Micke is simply brilliant all the time!

-Tellef Kvifte