Christian Kjellvander

Christian Kjellvander is a Swedish-born singer and songwriter in the indie Americana tradition. He also founded and was frontman for that country's famed indie rock band the Loosegoats. Though Kjellvander was born in Sweden, his parents moved to the United States when he was six. His earliest and most enduring musical influences were soaked up in America. They moved back across the ocean when he was 15, and shortly thereafter he founded Loosegoats, who released half a dozen EPs and albums for Startacks before calling it a day, initially in 2002.

Kjellvander commenced his solo career that year with the single "Homeward Rolling Soldier" b/w "Broken Wheels." While Loosegoats had always had marginal Americana influences, his solo work was steeped in it, with influences ranging from Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parson, and early Neil Young as landmarks. His debut album, Songs from a Two Room Chapel, appeared in October of 2002. It was followed by the single "Portugal" b/w "Staying There" in 2003, along with Introducing the Past, a double-disc retrospective of Loosegoats material.

Kjellvander's next proper album was 2005's Faya, which was recorded in an old schoolhouse. After incessantly touring for nearly two years, he recorded I Saw Her from Here, I Saw Here from Here, which was issued in 2007. The album was greeted with universally positive reviews. He took it on the road, touring North America as well as Europe for two more years. He collected stories and experiences during those adventures, which culminated in Rough and Rynge, named for Rynge Castle, a rural barn in a small village along a train track. The set was recorded live to tape over five days by his road band.

In 2012, Kjellvander reunited the Loosegoats for the album Ideas for to Travel Down Death's Merry Road, which was a little less lo-fi and a lot more jangly and bright. His next solo album, The Pitcher, was recorded to 24-track in an old church. With more elaborate production and songs, influenced as much by Jimmy Webb as by Parsons and company, it was his first offering to be released on the other side of the Atlantic by Tapete Records in November of 2013.