Artist Profile
Growing up in what’s been voted Sweden’s “most boring town” (Katrineholm, a railway junction between Gothenburg and Stockholm) can’t be barrel of laughs, but for 21-year-old pop star Erik Hassle, it was an incubator for his song writing. With nothing better to do, he spent his days hanging out in his friend’s garage listening to Motown and Tamla records, and discovering the voice of his mentor, Wilson Pickett. Having left his parents’ house at 17, he then dropped The Booker T. & the M.G.s vibes, and replaced it with contemporary synths to create a modern form of baroque soul that’s topped the charts in Sweden, Denmark, and soon the UK too, as his recently released debut album, Pieces ignites hearts on the club scene here.
Reviews
The ingredients are there – lyrics that find Hassle ¬opening his already-battered 21-year-old heart about love and social ineptness, emotively sung to surging electro—melodies
- Guardian
We'll be keeping an eye on this one.
- DigitalSpy.co.uk
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Erik Hassle
Session
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