back

biography / portrait

You know the feeling when you want something but you just can't pinpoint the thing that'll put your of long-time friends and musicians felt the very same time as struggling musicians, they had studied at Academy of Music, they had worked as classical be more. What began as a vaporous feeling of wanting, enigmatic group the Fleshquartet - a classical string attitude and a thunderous drummer to boot. When the term "fusion" first was adopted to describe a where The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, Frank forefront. But, fusion is just as appropriate a term to use new, samples and rap with ferocious drum patterns. This modern form of fusion also serves as a fitting description of the Fleshquartet sound. Their story began with "Meat Beat" in 1987, an album filled with odd twists and turns, which earned them a cult following in Sweden. Then came the follow up "What´s Your Pleasure?"(´88) which introduced them to a wider audience, as did "Goodbye Sweden"(´90). By the early nineties they'd even put themselves on the map as moviemakers with a short-film for MTV and in 1992 a documentary was made about the group, shown across Europe. A year later they released the album "FLOW"(´93) featuring a host of Sweden's most popular artists. It also marked their first collaboration with rappers and a more elaborate use of sampling and programming. FLOW earned them their first Swedish Grammy Award in the "Best Album"-category. The single "Dancing Madly Backwards" taken from the album, became their biggest hit thus far. In 1998 they released the critically acclaimed album "I'd Give Anything For A Little Sunshine", showcasing tunes co-written by Thomas Öberg from the notorious Swedish rock group: bob hund, and a cover of Burt Bacharach's "Trains and boats and planes". During their career they've also scored or provided music for eleven feature films, three nationwide commercials and written original music for some of Sweden's biggest theatres and ballet-companies. Since their humble beginnings back in the mid-eighties, fans have joined the ranks in ever growing numbers, mesmerized by the Fleshquartet's quirky combination of classical finesse, dissonant rock, ghostlike air, thumping bass lines, horroresque lyrics and cluboriented rhythms. It's hard to make fitting comparisons, but you wouldn't be too far off, comparing the Fleshquartet with groups and artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Tom Waits, Charles Mingus, White Zombie, Joni Mitchell, Marilyn Manson and classical composers such as Mauricio Kagel and Luciano Berio. Fleshquartet (in Swedish: Fläskkvartetten) is Mattias Helldén; cello, Örjan Högberg; viola, Sebastian Öberg; cello, Jonas Lindgren; violin: Christian Olsson; drums, various; programming and samples. (Source: www.fleshquartet.com)