Alice Boman: "I'm finding a new joy" • Neu • DIY Magazine

Alice Boman talks like she sings. Close to a whisper, she likes to leave space in a conversation, similar to the songs on recent EP ‘II’, which give room for sounds that swim around instead of stealing the spotlight.

The Malmö-based songwriter recently struck a nerve - albeit quietly, of course - with her second release, the follow-on from 2013 debut ‘Skisser’. The title of her first release translated to “sketches”, and over time these rough ideas have been replaced with something more fully-formed. The intentions are more ambitious too - Alice is starting to see this as something to chase.

“I guess with everything you do, you come to a point where you want to move on to something else,” she explains, referring to her desire to quit “sketches” and opt for the full instrumentation and lush recordings that define ‘II’. “I’m finding a new joy in playing and singing and realising that it’s important for me.”

‘II’ emerged following an idyllic-sounding trip to the Swedish countryside, where she stayed in a giant “wooden house”, as she calls it. Less a cabin, more a spacious departure in the middle of nowhere, the sparse recordings practically paint the environment themselves. “It was beautiful, to be in that place and able to record and sing all day long, sitting up late at night,” she reflects. She also managed to kick temptation to throw in every instrument possible into her songs - this was the first time she had decent gear to record with. “It’s important to not overdo it. I wanted to at first - you just want to make it so big when you have a chance. It’s a thin line.”

“It was beautiful, to be in that place and able to record and sing all day long.”

Most of the time Boman needs to be “alone with a piano” to write, but leaving the city was important, even though she jokes that “not much goes on” in Malmö. “Some days when I have a lot of time, I think ‘Now I should sit down and play’ and I can’t do it,” she says. “I always get inspired mostly when I don’t have a lot of time,” she says, although given the frantic few months that’ve linked up with ‘II’, the one thing she desires most of all is a “nothing” day. “It’s so important to have time where you can do other things, just a whole day of nothingness,” she says, dreaming of slouching on the couch and watching god-awful TV.

Alice Boman’s ‘II’ EP is out now.

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