Urban realism by a social outsider. Bittersweet melodies pumped through amplifiers as distorted as the mind of the person playing them. Or, simply put, "loser punk". Jakob Mind is Rotten Mind guitars and vocalist Jakob Arvidsson's newly established solo project. His debut album "The One Who Got Away" is released on vinyl. Jakob Arvidsson has been a prominent part of the Swedish punk scene for years, starting his career with hardcore punk band Agent Attitude in 2010. The band toured frequently in Europe and did a US tour in 2013. Agent Attitude managed to release three full length albums as well as an EP before breaking up in 2015. Jakob quickly moved on to form Rotten Mind, which to date is his most wide-known project. Their debut album "I'm Alone Even With You" was released in 2015 and was followed by tours across mainland Europe, UK, USA and Australia. Jakob has released a total of four albums with Rotten Mind. Shortly after Rotten Mind recorded their latest studio album "Rat City Dog Boy" (2020, Lövely Records), Jakob returned to the studio to record some new material. Back then, there was no real end goal with the project, other than making music for the sake of creating it. When Jakob posted a demo presenting one of the tracks "7 Days", this came to change. Fans of Rotten Mind as well as the label wanted to hear more, and it was soon decided that the new material deserved a proper release. So Jakob returned to the studio, and together with Jakob Blom (Real Tears, Sista Bussen), he recorded the songs that would end up on "The One Who Got Away". A fan of Rotten Mind will easily be able to recognize the sound and energy of the new tracks, but there's much more to it. Being able to follow his own, individual creative path, Jakob Mind naturally draws more inspiration from the bands and artists that he holds close. This includes John Cale and The Velvet Underground, Roky Erickson, as well as more obvious influences such as Buzzcocks, Wipers, Dead Boys and Ramones. Since all of the instruments are arranged and played by Jakob himself, the album is very much shaped by his own musical preferences. The songwriting process as a solo-artist also contributed to the sound of the album; "It's a bit different when you play all the instruments by yourself. You can't rehearse it before so pretty much all the drum takes are the first time I play the songs. I just used my acoustic guitar at home and tried to figure out in my head how the songs will sound and then try to re-create that in the studio. It's not easy all the time but it's good fun." On "The One Who Got Away" you'll find 10 tracks, ranging from straight forward punk, post-punk to noise-infused experimental rock. There are songs with elements of surf rock and pure rock 'n' roll. The setting is the hometown of Uppsala, Sweden, and the stories revolve around friendship, relationships and life on the streets. Presented with straight forward and honest lyrics that simply describe reality as it is; "The lyrics are about life and thoughts in general. This past year I've had close friends who died, I've lost jobs etc. I always try to just write about what's going on right now and this time I didn't think much about it, I just wrote and it is what it is."
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