The story behind new Swedish band Jeudah is something of an interesting one. Its two members Jan Jämte and Kristian Karlsson, have for years been plying their trade in different hardworking bands in their home country of Sweden. Vocalist Jämte with progressive, alternative metal group Khoma and instrumentalist Karlsson with post rockers Pg.lost and Eskju Divine. Living over 800 kilometres apart the two musicians haven’t had many opportunities to meet in person, instead the idea of Jeudah has been forged through a long distance relationship built around countless hours of telephone conversations and experimenting alone in front of microphones and amplifiers. And the result according to the band is a sound that encompasses vulnerability, heaviness and epic soundscapes – all in a straightforward, melodic manner.
Jämte explains further “When Kristian sent me a few songs in 2008 I immediately felt there was a musical connection. Sometimes you don’t have to talk a lot, or spend hour after hour in a rehearsal room. You just hear it and know what to do. So I just started to sing. It was like opening a dam.”
During a couple of months in 2008 Jeudah had written over 20 songs and in January the following year Jan and Kristian finally met to start the recording of the debut album While We Sleep. Recruiting Thomas Hedlund also in Khoma on drumming duties, the band kept all other outside interference to a minimum, recording and producing the album themselves. A year later the record While We Sleep was done and is scheduled for release through Blackstar Foundation in March of this year.
The first release from the album is the starkly, beautiful The Edge of the World. With a rumbling drumbeat, gorgeous guitars and piano blended with Jämtes vocal, which falls somewhere between Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Jón Pór Birgisson of Sigur Ros, it offers a small taste of what promises to be an excellent debut record.
The Edge of the World is available for free download at
http://jeudah.bandcamp.com/track/the-edge-of-the-world
