She is best known as the frontwoman with multi-million selling Swedish rock band The Cardigans.
But when The Courier catches up with Swedish songstress Nina Persson to talk about recent collaborations with East Neuk of Fife musician James Yorkston, she reveals she has thoroughly enjoyed not being the artist who has to “carry things”.
The 48-year-old, who lives in Malmo, enjoyed fame with The Cardigans in the 1990s with global hits such as Lovefool, My Favourite Game and Erase/Rewind.
Visits to Fife
No stranger to duets, Nina memorably sang with Welsh singer Tom Jones in 1999 when The Cardigans teamed up to do a version of Burning Down the House.
Still playing live, The Cardigans have a string of festival dates lined up for this year, including a performance in Hong Kong in early March.
In recent months, however, Nina has loved working with Cellardyke’s very own James Yorkston to record an album with Stockholm’s The Second Hand Orchestra, and to go on tour with James and the band itself.
Not only that, she recently enjoyed “amazing” sea swimming in the outdoor pool at Cellardyke on a visit to James’ studio.
She was back in the Kingdom when she appeared as part of James’ Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer line-up at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews on Sunday February 19.
How was Nina introduced to James?
Speaking to The Courier down the phone from her hotel room in Stirling where she’d performed on stage with James and The Second Hand Orchestra the night before, Nina explains how she came to work with James on the band’s recently released second record, The Great White Sea Eagle, after being connected by a mutual friend.
James worked with The Second Hand Orchestra on the original album The Wide, Wide River before lockdown.
“There’s a guy, KJ (Karl-Jonas Winqvist) who is sort of like the ring leader for The Second Hand Orchestra who is an old friend of mine,” explains Nina.
“He was the one who got the idea that there should be another vocalist with James on this second record, and he’s the one that suggested me because we are old pals.
“He was the one who introduced us really.
“I was excited and said yes to the project and we met and thought it was going to work well.”
Getting to know each other
Nina said that when KJ sent her some of the new songs, she liked them a lot.
She then talked regularly to James via Zoom between Sweden and his home in Cellardyke.
Eventually, when it was time to record, James travelled to Malmo where she lives to “hang out” in her studio and to see what they actually sounded like singing together.
Nina admits that she had never heard of James before the project came about, adding: “For the last 10 years, I have not really been up to speed with music as I used to be.”
But when she told friends she was going to work with him, they knew of him and his work, and she realised they complimented each other well.
So what attracted her to the project?
“Well firstly it was attractive to me that I got a request that involved more than one song,” she laughs, “because I get a lot of requests singing on peoples’ music – duets or little collaborations that I’ve done some of.
“But I’ve decided to not do that as much because it makes me feel like I am spreading myself thin and not necessarily developing as an artist or relationships by doing that.
“This was nice because it was a project with more meat on the bones.
“It was more than one song – it was four songs I was sent.
“And then it ended up being a whole record collaboration.
“I think that’s more worthwhile in a way because that’s what takes me places.
“I feel if I just sing on top of peoples’ songs it’s not really a mutual sort of win-win.
“But this was really like a whole new project that involved some investment in time, in artistry.”
Need for ‘development’
While Nina still loves playing with The Cardigans and regards the band as her best friends, she admits she’s at a stage in life where she also needs new perspectives to develop.
While she’s grateful for the experiences she had in the 1990s – touring the world and having hits under the “old school” record company environment – she’s “not hungry for that any more”.
By contrast, at her stage of life, she now feels there’s “quicker development in this slower pace part of the music industry”.
That’s why she approached The Second Hand Orchestra project as if she was “going to be part of the band” rather than as a lead vocalist.
“That’s something I’ve dreamt of – to be in a position in a project to not be the artist carrying things,” she reveals.
“I was looking forward to not being the one who was in the centre necessarily.
“So I was excited to have that position.
“When I play with my band The Cardigans, it’s always – and there’s nothing can be done about it, it is what it is – but it’s always sort of like I can hardly see them (my bandmates) because they are behind me on stage.
“They are my really dear close friends.
“But it’s also like a lonely position in some ways, because a lot of things cannot happen without me.
“So I’ve been dreaming about a project that’s not dependent on me having a good day if you see what I mean!”
Keeping out of the spotlight
Nina, who also now teaches at the music conservatory in Copenhagen, says it’s great having James’ name carrying the band.
But despite wanting to stay out of the spotlight, she reveals that this can still sometimes literally be a problem.
“Last night for example we played a show,” she says.
“When you sound check you don’t really check the lights.
“But when we got on stage for some reason there was a really strong lamp on top of me.
“I didn’t realise it was going to bother me so much, but I really felt like it was inappropriate in a way.
“I had to move out because it felt physically uncomfortable to be in that strong a light, because you don’t see anything.
“It was weird to be there with a band and me being in a pool of light like that.
“But that’s sort of symbolic of how this project feels.
“James obviously is the repertoire holder, but the whole band is very much at the same level. We are all there to support James in a way.”
Complimentary voices
James has joked in previous interviews that he can’t sing.
Nina laughs about this and offers assurances that she thinks he’s a “great singer”.
What works well when they sing together with The Second Hand Orchestra is the “chosen aesthetics”. They “sing quite simply in a way”.
“I think we both have an emphasis on expression rather than virtuosity,” she says.
“We also have a quality. We have pretty sort of airy voices. That tends to mix really well, technically, which is nice.
“When we sing together it feels really restful. It blends well so it feels like we are carrying each other a bit.”
Style of music
Nina says the style of music produced with The Second Hand Orchestra is “right up my alley”.
She says some of the music she’s done in the past is “not necessarily correlating” to the music she’s been listening to.
She’s always enjoyed acoustic music and it’s something she’s been increasingly drawn to.
Tuesday the 46th of January made considerably better by listening to James Yorkston, Nina Persson (The Cardigans) and The Secondhand Orchestra in a brewery in the East Neuk. Wonderful evening ❤️ 🎶 pic.twitter.com/7JstuyNh59
— shambles klutz (@shamblesklutz) January 31, 2023
It’s apt then that on January 31, The Second Hand Orchestra’s UK tour launched with a warm-up gig in the intimate setting of Futtle – a small, organic brewery in the former stable block at Bowhouse outside St Monans.
Praising the “gorgeous lovely people” of the East Neuk, the rare gig by James, Nina and The Second Hand Orchestra featured songs from the band’s two albums.
The tour has since taken in everywhere from Stirling to Edinburgh and Glasgow with further dates down south.
But Nina was also excited to have been added to James’ Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer tour line-up which took in Eden Court, Inverness, on February 16; Mareel, Shetland, on February 17; Eastgate Theatre, Peebles on February 18 and the Byre Theatre, St Andrews, on February 19.
That eclectic club night tour also featured Philip Selway (Radiohead), Rachel Sermanni and Marjolein Robertson.
“That’s really exciting as well,” says Nina, adding that it’s “not out of the question” she does future collaborations with James.
“I’ve met Phil Selway before. We toured with him. But the rest of the people I wasn’t familiar with, so it’s super exciting. For me again, discovering something brand new.
“It’s funny – before I even started talking to James I had started to feel like I was very excited to go to Scotland.
“For some reason, I was thinking about that a lot.
“Shetland especially – I’ve dreamt of going there. That’s a short trip, unfortunately. But I’m very excited to just set foot there.”
Album and gig information
*The Great White Sea Eagle by James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra is out now on Domino Records.
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