Broken Records

There are two different bands with this name: 1) Broken Records (Edinburgh) are a seven piece band based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Formed in December 2006, they have gigged continuously since then. The breadth of sound is shared amongst the seven members playing guitars, bass, violin, cello, accordion, mandolin, piano, trumpet, glockenspiel and drums. 2007 has been a busy year for the band with live sessions on BBC Radio One and BBC 6 Music, being Best of T Break Stage at T in the Park, and numerous gigs across Scotland. They release their debut vinyl single on Young Turks: "if the news makes you sad, don’t watch it" 14/04/2008 "They deal in big lush, string-soaked songs with a pop sensibility. think a british arcade fire with soaring, jeff buckley-esque melodies. they are magical, engrossing and wholly enveloping, genuinely and excitingly bursting with commercial potential." (Rough Trade) One of their lyrics is written in dialouge with Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The song is called "If Eilert Lovborg wrote a song, it would sound like this", and is about poor Eilert from the play "Hedda Gabler", who asks Hedda to "stay for love", or go, and if so, take with her his loneliness. It’s a wonderfully intellectual lyric and the saddest song ever. http://www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsedinburgh 2) Broken Records (Sweden) Story of the band: In the autumn of 2003 Erik and Johan started to fumble some songs together in Johan´s narrow apartment in Majorna, Gothenburg. Low-key, lo-fi acoustic music with close harmony and a richness of melody came out of these experiments. The technical incompetent duo borrowed a portabel digital studio and managed, somehow, during winter and spring 2004, to record around thirty songs. Some of these recordings were spread among friends and family and resulted in an appreciated debut live performance at a student´s pub in april. Henrik, with his white Fender Stratocaster, came along in the autumn of 2004. There were now three songwriters in the band, with a broad taste in music, and the sound was widened with a more “mature” feel to it. Plenty of rehearsals, a handful of live performances and some easy-to-forget home recordings later, contact was made with Daniel Y. During a weekend in july 2005, in a small cellar studio in Guldheden (Goldmoor), Gothenburg, he recorded three songs with the trio. They ended up on Broken Records first official CD-R: “The Goldmoor Sessions/The Livingroom Sessions” 2006. Three (October 28 & November 18-19, 2006) Three is a magic number, they say. And during three days in October & November 2006 so it seemed: The three members of Broken Records headed for Music a Matic studios at Tredje (3rd) Långgatan in Gothenburg to record three songs. With Thomas Andrén’s spot-on ideas and delicate hands a richer and warmer sound was born. In organic and earthy Nearby Hills the band deals with the members obsession with kite flying. Anne – a song frequent on the band’s live set list – finally gets all dressed up in full costume. Titte Carlsson joins the band on backing vocals on Desperado; a song starting in old time Broken Records style but finishing off the Three-sessions in grand style. http://www.brokenrecords.se http://www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsgbg Listen at Last.fm