I have always loved the songs from the 70s, 80s and 90's where my session heroes Mike Landau, Steve Lukather, Dann Huff and Jay Graydon were prominent in shaping the overall sound of the productions they were part of.

So this tune is a shameless flirt with all the sounds and styles of that era and I truly had a blast recording it.

Hands That Listen

Just a simple ballad in a West Coast LA style made popular in the 80's and 90's. Musically, I grew up with this style so every once in a while I revisit.

Heartstone

Every once in a while I feel the urge to do some country picking. Sometimes I revisit and old tune or sometimes I write a new one. In this case I merged to older tunes into a new arrangement. 
The reason I wanted to do some country this time is that I created a preset on the Tone Master Pro that I really like and I used that for all guitar tracks on this tune.

Western Headware

A bit of soul with organ and guitar as main ingredients. I'm going for a Dumble ODS vibe with the guitar.

Don't You Think

Back in the 80s I listened a lot to Lee Ritenour and whenever I play clean I think that influence shines through. Not the least in this tune.

Five Days Hence

I don't know if anyone can hear it but two of my main funk influences are Prince and Mark Lettieri. To my ears that's kind of obvious here.
One day I wanted to play some funk so I wrote this.


Spicy Funk Food

I started getting seriously into music in the late 70s and the 80s so there's were my main musical influences can be found. Both as a player and a composer.

This tune channels some of the lighter guitar fusion styles from that era. The guitar sound I was aiming for here is that of a Dumble ODS on its brighter side.

Force Of Habit

My goal with this track was to create a tune that would reflect my influences from the 80s. Larry Carlton for guitar and Michael McDonald for the arrangement.
Many people would probably call this Smooth Jazz but, personally, I'd call it Smooth Pop as the jazz influence is fairly minimal.

None The Wiser

I'm a huge fan of Michel Landau. I've seen him live a few time and I'm always blown away by his playing. In this tune I tried to channel the dynamic kind of rhythm he does so effortlessly.
For the rhythm guitar I used a James Tyler Studio Elite and for the solos I used first the Tyler and then a Collings City Limits. Amp and FX was the Fender Tone Master Pro.

The Very Same Thing

This is what we, in Sweden, call LA Slick or West Coast. A big ballad with lots of wide stereo guitar tracks, long delays and big reverbs.

The title came to me as I passed a fairly new building at Sveagatan 117 in Varberg and noticed what a nice door they have.

The Door At 117

This tune is a reflection of a painting I saw at a local art exhibition. It showed a young man in NYCunder a road sign saying ONE WAY and there was a "talking bubble" in which the guy said: "I'm lost!". 

I spoke to the artist and he told me he had used to photos and superimposed them on each other so, somehow, parts of both photographs were could be seen. I tokk that concept to my DAW and layered two grooves and deleted some hits from each groove to get the intended result and then build the tune from there.

So thanks to Bengt the artist for the inspiration. You can find the picture here:
https://www.bengtbakomkameran.se/product-page/i-am-lost


Hands That Listen

Mats Nermark's tunes

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