Hildur Höglind is a young, talented singer/songwriter from Sweden. She recently toured UK promoting her new EP “Early”. I spoke to her about the tour, differences between England and Sweden, singing in English and favourite season…
Piotr Balkus: I am a big fan of your songs, my favorite one is “Seize The Day”, can you tell me more about this song?
Hildur Höglind: Thank you! Well, I wrote it in 2012. At first the approach was completely different, almost the opposite of what the title says. There was a very ironic tone to it. Now, however, it’s a fairly happy song, almost a bit naïve at times. It’s about doing what you want and what you love before it’s too late. I think we tend to delay pleasures and focus on things we think we have to do.
Recently you’ve toured in the UK on a mini tour, including London. I know you were so excited about it. What does it mean to you to tour in the UK?
6 cities and 8 gigs. Chester, Huddersfield twice, Manchester, Northwich, Leicester and London twice. Yes, I was (and still kinda of am) very excited! It means a lot. Meeting people and new contacts, building friendships. And of course it’s fun to perform! I definitely want to do it again, when I can afford to. I’d love to tour in Germany and France as well.
You are from Sweden, but your songs sound like they are written by an English person, why is that?
I am not sure why I write in English. I think it could be partly because I like the ”roundness” of the language. I think of Swedish as a very sharp language and I find it hard to forge the words together properly. It comes naturally for me to write in English right now, but who knows, maybe that’ll change in the future.
How musically different is Sweden from the UK?
Not very different really. I actually can’t think of any big differences. You get gigs a bit easier in England though, but once you get a gig in Sweden you are usually paid. I’m torn between the two. I want people to be able to play and perform as much as possible, but at the same time – there’s a lot of time and hard work behind learning an instrument, writing songs, getting equipment and all the stuff you need, so you should get paid. No exceptions, unless it’s a charity gig, a competition or something similar to that. Being a musician is a real job and it’s about time that people realise that. If you’re good enough to perform and entertain, you are good enough to get paid. Playing music is not about the money, but paying rent and eating sure is. If one is not paid for playing music, it becomes very difficult to survive. People need to be willing to pay for our musicians to give us what we love – music!
Any new great artists from the UK you had a chance to discover lately or meet in person on your tour?
Yes, actually. I am a big fan of Owen Brinley’s work. Grammatics and Department M are two of my absolute favorite bands. As a matter of fact, I’m coming to London to see them for the first time the 30th of March. Another great British musician is The Lion And The Wolf, or as I like to call him, Tom. I met him on the tour, we supported him for three wonderful and inspiring gigs in Chester and Huddersfield.
So you are coming back to England very soon. Do you think of moving here for good?
I do, I definitely do. I am determined to move abroad in a couple of years, not sure where, but England, and especially London, is a strong candidate. It would be to study or work or both in that case, but it’s all about making ends meet financially. France or Italy would be interesting as well, more of a challenge with the language and all.
What’s your favorite season? And why?
That’s a surprisingly hard question! I instinctively think summer, but both Christmas, New Years and my birthday is late December and early January. I’m still gonna have to go with summer though. Every year in spring time I feel like I’m being given new life! I love the hot weather and being able to busk, barbecue and all that. Yes, summer. I could choose winter though, if I got to spend it with my loved ones someplace warm.
Thank you for your time and good luck with your music.
Thank you!
Hildur’s EP “Early” is available on popular music platforms, iTunes, Deezer, Amazon, Rdio etc:
Buy her music on https://itunes.apple.com/se/album/early-ep/id966259245
Listen on Soundcloud:
