Fortune Cookies Blues

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Lina Lönnberg – vocals
Martin Johansson – guitars & things
Roger Langvik – bass & things
Jesper Pirnes – samples & things

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Every FCB song is born from a recording of a soundsource that’s in our surroundings at a specific time, could be anything from the water dripping in a kitchen sink, sirens as an ambulance passes or the buzzing of a broken fuse box. Sometimes we hammer and tap at things, kitchen utensils being muy popular in that regard. Playing along to cuts of the recorded sounds form the back bone of the harmonies and from that the song emerges. The original sounds are then kept as they are and/or processed, tweaked and incorporated in the song as instruments. Brain child of Martin, Fortune Cookies Blues brings you the combined songwriting talent of Martin and Lina elevated by Jespers Pirnes lush electronic landscapes

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FAULT: Who are Fortune Cookies Blues?

Martin: A group of four people (some might even argue that we are swedes) coming from diverse musical directions to pour stuff in a blender and watch what happens. It’s alchemy baby!

FAULT: How has 2010 been for you?

Martin: Very exciting, stumbling on so many fun sounds, realising it does work writing songs in this way and to top that off we released the first single.

FAULT: What sets you apart from other artists?

Martin: Maybe the approach to the songwriting is unusual for pop bands, but obviously we found inspiration for it somewhere, there is so much good stuff out there. And naturally one likes to think that
us as individuals makes this stuff different and grand.

FAULT: Do you write from personal experiences?

Martin: When it comes to the music it’s rising from a recorded “everyday” sound, that sound does set the imagination in motion as you get scenes in your head. Your own emotions and feelings in relation to that sound naturally affects the vibe and the way you write that song. It’s always something you do have a personal experience or a strong inner image of.

FAULT: What are you currently working on?

Martin: Right now we are finishing up the upcoming singles and being excited about the incoming remixes. One of the singles is based on waterdrops
falling in a kitchen sink and the other one on cuts from a guy hammering pots and stuff in a New York subway station..

FAULT: What is your creative process?

Martin: It actually is a lot like unwrapping gifts for christmas, same sense of surprise and discovery, same excitement. First we record an exciting sound from something in our surroundings or find one while
listening through old recordings from travels. It’s like diary notes in a way. The guitar comes in, playing along to the sample, finding harmonies and scales and such. That’s when the song starts to get
a structure, building it up with the guitar from the vibe of the sound. The vocal melody and lyrics is added and lo and behold, you got yourself a pop song. Once we got a song structure, we add drums and
bass and programming. Everything leads on to the next thing quite naturally, like it was hidden within from the start. But the unwrapping ain’t done there, cause you still got the surprises
of sending it for remixes. Plus we usually do different versions ourselves, looking at the song from different angles. It’s all about playfullness and trying new approaches really.

FAULT: Do you have any shows coming up?
Martin: Not focusing on taking this baby live for a good while, too much fun to be had in the studio.

FAULT: What can we expect from you in 2011?
Martin: Looks like we will release 3 more singles, and remixes thereof, for starters. Who knows what else? Might be an album, might be some live stuff. We will just keep on opening those giftboxes and see what’s inside.

FAULT: What is your FAULT?
Martin: Hopefully a lot, faults is what makes it all interesting isn’t it? The cracks in the wall and all that jazz, but personally I blame Coco.

/Martin
for Fortune Cookies Blues

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