David Myhr to Release New LP EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU
The Swedish power pop artist's upcoming record follows his acclaimed solo catalog.
Swedish power pop artist David Myhr has opened pre-orders for his new studio album EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU, the follow-up to his previous recorded work.
The album — Myhr's third full-length solo release and the follow-up to his work as former frontman of The Merrymakers — arrives physically on September 18 and digitally on October 2 via Oglio Entertainment. Myhr has also revealed the album's artwork and complete 10-song track listing.
Pre-orders are available at https://davidmyhr.com/
The album brings together an international cast of collaborators, including co-producer Andreas Dahlbäck (Per Gessle, Julian Lennon), lyricist Bill DeMain (Marshall Crenshaw, Boo Hewerdine, Kim Richey), Frankie Siragusa (The Posies, The Lickerish Quartet), Brad Jones (Matthew Sweet, Josh Rouse, Jill Sobule), Iain Hornal (10cc, Jeff Lynne's ELO), Linus of Hollywood (Bowling For Soup, The Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick), Christian Phillips (The Sonic Executive Sessions, Colin Blunstone, The Zombies) and Swedish film composer Jimmy Lagnefors.
With more than three decades in the music industry, Myhr has reached a straightforward place in his creative life.
'My only goal is to keep making the kind of music I want to listen to,' says Myhr.
That guiding principle runs through EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU, a collection of classic, timeless pop-rock songs shaped by Myhr's melodic sensibility. The album moves from the Beach Boys-flavored glow of 'Summer Summer Summer' and the open-road warmth of current single 'Take a Run at the Sun' to the uplifting 'Someday Soon,' the American Songbook-inspired 'Continental Drifter' and the rocking title track.
'Inspiration can strike at any time,' Myhr explains. 'If I'm lucky, I'm alone and there's a piano nearby. I collect small ideas that later come together into songs.'
Myhr frequently develops those ideas alongside a handpicked circle of collaborators, allowing each song to find the musicians, writers and arrangements that best serve it.
'I don't have a message to convey to the world beyond the musical one, and what matters to me is the final result,' he says. 'So I often choose, much like Elton John and Benny Andersson, to work with people who have a gift for words.'
Among those collaborators is Nashville songwriter Bill DeMain, whose credits include Swan Dive, Marshall Crenshaw, Boo Hewerdine and Kim Richey. DeMain contributed lyrics to five songs on the album: 'Say Yes,' 'Summer Summer Summer,' 'Take a Run at the Sun,' 'Continental Drifter' and the father-daughter song 'Doodlebug.'
'His lyrics contain equal parts melancholy, romance and hope,' says Myhr. 'There's no lack of darkness, but in the end there's always a sense of light, and that suits me well. Some people think music needs to contain darkness to be moving. But, unlike others, my songwriting isn't therapy, where I constantly have to process events from my life. What moves me is music that takes me somewhere else and lets me drift along. That's what I want to achieve with my own music.'
Myhr continues his co-production partnership with Andreas Dahlbäck, known for his work with Per Gessle and Julian Lennon, while opening the creative process to an accomplished international cast of contributors.
'Even though I'm the artist on the album cover, I don't have to do everything myself,' Myhr says. 'I can handpick co-writers, musicians and arrangers who help give each song exactly the frame it needs. It's a great feeling that so many accomplished musicians and songwriters want to work with me. I take that as a sign they like my songs—it can hardly be because they see me as a cash cow!' he laughs.
Los Angeles-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Frankie Siragusa, known for his work with The Posies and The Lickerish Quartet, contributed an expansive series of overdubs to the finished album. Myhr's previous collaborator Brad Jones — whose credits include Josh Rouse, Matthew Sweet and Jill Sobule — also returned to add what he calls 'the icing on the cake.'
Jones co-wrote three of the album's songs: the heartening 'Someday Soon,' the minor-key ballad 'Crystal Is Thinking of Something' and the driving title track. He previously co-produced and co-wrote material for Myhr's 2018 solo album, Lucky Day.
Iain Hornal of 10cc and Jeff Lynne's ELO layered vocal harmonies onto 'Summer Summer Summer,' while Linus of Hollywood — whose credits include Bowling For Soup, The Smashing Pumpkins and Cheap Trick — contributed to the co-written 'Milk & Coffee.'
'It was a true joy, almost like a Christmas gift, to open the session files from all my collaborators,' says Myhr. 'I completely trusted their creative processes, and I was always very pleased to hear what they came up with.'
The album closes with 'Finally,' a collaboration with Swedish film composer Jimmy Lagnefors, with whom Myhr previously wrote the heavily ELO-inspired 'Spellbound' in 2016. Myhr describes the new song with characteristic tongue-in-cheek humility: 'It's a follow-up to 'Yesterday.''
EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU Track Listing
- Say Yes
- Summer Summer Summer
- Take a Run at the Sun
- Milk & Coffee
- Crystal Is Thinking of Something
- Someday Soon
- Continental Drifter
- Doodlebug
- Everything Is All About You
- Finally
Myhr got his start fronting Swedish power-pop band The Merrymakers, whose 1997 album Bubblegun — co-produced by Jellyfish's Andy Sturmer, who also played drums on the record — became a benchmark of its era and brought the group college-radio success, international touring and record sales exceeding 100,000 copies in Japan.
After years as an in-demand producer and songwriter for Japanese pop artists, Myhr launched his solo career with Soundshine in 2012, followed by the EP Record Collection in 2014, Lucky Day in 2018 and the 2021 EP And Now This.
EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU will be released physically on September 18 and digitally on October 2 via Oglio Entertainment.
