11 tracks, 51 minutes

Listen to: “Stort Bält-passagerna”, “Vindväggen”
Reviews of “Kolväteserenader”
Release date: May 2004

It happened in turns during five years; Patrik Torsson spent one month at sea and one month ashore. Six months on a tanker and six months at home every year. The month at sea as first mate on a product tanker included navigation and the handling of refined petroleum products. The free month at home was spent exclusively on making and developing music.

After working like this in five years, Patrik decided to take a break from the sea. The free month was not worth the 84-hour weeks in the North and Baltic Sea. It was as much about recovering a tired and exhausted human being as it was about the need to fully concentrate on music for a longer period of time. A cold November evening in Holtenau, where the locks of the Kiel Canal open out into the southern Baltic Sea, Patrik went ashore for a longer period of time.

The full-length debut “Kolväteserenader” (“Hydrocarbon Serenades”) is a recollection of the moments that Patrik remembers the most from the five years at sea. It is about small observations and phenomena. Meeting and talking with people. Weather phenomena, things that stood out of the grey everyday life. “Kolväteserenader” is about how life as a sailor can be in the 21st century. The music is made with instruments such as guitar and piano, electronic sounds and field recordings. The sound is deliberately left quite raw and unpolished as a personal statement on today’s hyper-produced popular music. “Kolväteserenader” is instead meant to sound like ‘at home’ or ‘cassette recording’, a feeling that hopefully feels warm and inviting.

Tracks: 1. Vattenfärden, 2. Stora Bält-passagerna, 3. Kommunikationerna, 4. Brofjorden-åskan, 5. Tromberna, 6. Påmönstring, 7. Vindväggen, 8. Lotsenbrüderschaft Elbe, 9. Flaskposten, 10. Avmönstring, 11. Nattglimmer

---------------------------------------------------------------

“Patrik Torsson tenders us with a Godardian decomposition that features spoken vignettes (in Swedish) from his storied days as deck hand on an oil tanker. There is something richly organic and elegantly delicate about his tapestries; the sea's mist is palpable, even for those who don't speak Swedish. This is mature without being parental, developed without being gentrified.”
J David Marston, XLR8R

“Det är två skivor (Patrik Torssons Kolväteserenader och Hans Appelqvists Bremort) som är fyllda av kärleksfyllda observationer av svensk vardag – två pionjärinsatser utan motstycke. [...] Helt stillsamt kan jag konstatera att innehållet på dessa skivor är sensationellt.”
Kjell Alinge, Expressen

“Patrik Torssons första album på Häpna är en udda skapelse. I 5 år arbetade han varannan månad som överstyrman och 2:e styrman på produkttankfartyg. Numera är Patrik Torsson landkrabba - men han har summerat åren till sjöss på den här skivan. Allting är inspelat i Torssons sovrum/studio någonstans i Göteborg. Han läser upp minnesbilder och tankegångar från havet som vävs ihop med elektronik, miljöljud, gitarr, piano och andra instrument. Det är suggestivt hela vägen med både rytmbaserade låtar och lågmälda stämningspartier och det känns som man får en högst personlig och samtidigt allmän bild av modern sjöfart. Vardagliga betraktelser samsas med dramatiska väderfenomen. Utan tvekan en av de bästa skivor jag hört i år.”
Rated 4/5, PM Jönsson, Göteborgs-Posten