-We wanted to know more about Teitur, the new blooming Scandanavian who has just released his new album "Let  The Dog Drive Home"- He answers our questions and then tells us a little bit more about his new brilliance!

What’s your homeland like? Landscape?

It's variations of grey, green and blue. Everywhere you are you can see the sea. Most villages have a football field right in the middle, somewhere next to the church, not far from the harbour.

How would you describe your culture? People? Language?

The Faroese are stubborn, proud and very friendly. The language is old Norse, the same language that deveoped in Scandinavia and Iceland during the times of vikings. Our variation is best understood somewhere between Icelandic and Norwegian. Now please stop asking me about the Faroe Islands. On to the music.

Do you think that your mother language affects your song-writing? How? What about personalities?

You are what you carry around. I think of songwriting being bigger than language and individual words. It's about sharing and communicating. It doesn't matter what language you speak, it matters what you've seen, done and been through. Then learning grammar and how to write is another matter.

What do you think about the cultural differences between the places that you play? Where was your biggest “culture shock”?

I honestly think that there is no we and they. Everyone is the same. But countries and traditions vary. The Finns are not very loud and verbal during the concerts.

What about your musical background? Where did it all start? 

I started writing music on my father's organ and got in a band early. Basically, I just wrote several hundreds of songs between the age of 15-21. I got signed as a songwriter in my earliest twenties in Los Angeles, before I made albums. There I just continued to write songs.

What challenges you? Inspires you?

Writing and finding things to write about is not hard. It's fun. It's more challenging when the computer doesn't work or when I can't find something. I like to read and study. Going to a movie or experiencing something new is often inspiring

Why is your new album called ‘Let The Dog Drive Home’? What was the idea behind the album?

It's an old song that I chose for the album, very much because the title fits. The songs are about letting go, about being small, about how things are not always in your control.

Which is your favourite song in you new album?

It's all one song to me. All my records are one song on their own.  

What was different with this album from the previous? Recording? Ideas?

I wanted everything to be simple, clear and healthy. The opposite of intense. Body and soul music. I recorded it in Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands which feel like home right now. All my other albums have been recorded in far away places like Spain, California, London and an island in the Baltic Sea called Gotland.

How do you go about writing your music? Lyrics? What ‘makes it happen’ for you?

It's neither words nor music first. It's the song first. The story. First you figure out what you want to say and then you sit down and work out how to say it best.

What’s the meaning or one thing you want to portray with your music? Is it different for every song or do you have a general reason behind your musicianship?

I try to write the song that only I can write.

What was the first ever CD you owned?

It was Michael Jackson, BAD. Because, I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it. That was the first CD. But before that, I had lots of cassettes. I'm that old. Bruce Springsteen and Iron Maiden on cassette and a yellow Sony Walkman did it for me. I like to think of my early bad taste as social environment issue.

How did you envision your future as a child? What did you want to be when you “grew up”?

I wanted to be a priest in the winter and a clown in the sommer. Maybe that's kind of how I turned out too. 

                                 --Notes on "Let The Dog Drive Home"--

What's up with the funny title?

"LET THE DOG DRIVE HOME" is an old song I wrote in America a long time ago. It ties this collection of songs together. I usually look at my records as one entire song. Most of these songs are about letting go, about being small and the realization that things seldom turn out the the way you expect.

Why does the record sound like this?

I have made a record that is hopefully free of fashion statements, flash and free of mere fascination being the main drive and free of a desire to impress others. I felt I needed to just be true to my basic songwriting and to make everything less intense and healthier, because I've learned that you become the music you write. It's sucks to travel around and sing about funerals, death and yourself. Trust me. It does. And I know it's very cool and so different to arrange the songs for three clarinets, delay- bass and marimba, but I've found it's just not always that neccesary in the long run. I am in a place in my life where I need to make something that is safe, comfortable and more effortless. As an artist, one does best to write the music that only you can write.

Home is everywhere

I chose to record in safe surroundings, in Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands, where I've felt the most at home these last few years. Because of the nature of this collection of American flavoured songs I landed on a West Coast approach in the sound and production and I made sure that everything was very well tuned and clear. The feel is also a little bit like night radio music to me - music on cruise control. I wanted to give all these songs a steady pace and make it more body & soul music, less a creation of the mind and thought.

I can only hope these songs will become someone else's modest companion and I feel honoured that anyone would even listen to it once - although it probably more than one listen to be moved. Thanks for your time.  There is a lot of music out there.

FEEL GOOD

This is a very simple song in a soul-song tradition. I originally wrote it for French singer NOLWENN LEROY working on her record. It's about gut feeling. On the production we triggered all the drums, hi-hats into old analog synthesizers. Basically, it's the drummer and me playing live. The bass you hear is an electronic bass-drum triggered into a Moog Synthesizer, the drummer played the electric drum-kit while the bassist recieved and changed the notes on his Moog. I often thought about this when in a loud club or bar and all you really hear is the bass and drums. I always want to change those bass notes around in a more harmonius and playful way.

GOD, I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO TELL YOU

I wrote this song for a film about a guy who has Asperger's syndrome. He has difficulty in communication. I think many people would feel better if they spoke to God. I believe in God as a good spirit. I don't believe that he sits up there and punishes us. And yes, that bass line is a total rip-off from guitar riff in the classic soul-song "My Girl". And no, I don't sit around and talk with God.

WAVERLY PLACE

This one is about growing up and time spent in New York City. How you meet someone after a long time and realize that you finally know who they are, that you didn't understand what they were all about until much later. I wrote the majority of the songs on my first album "Poetry & Aeroplanes" on Waverly Place with my friend Jeff. The sounds you hear in the beginning are from Greenwich Village.

FREIGHT TRAIN

This is one of my favourites to play. It's about how parents often wish for others all the things that you couldn't do. It's a song about someone who did all the right things. The "Freight Train" metaphor is very American, about being a hobo, hopping from train to train. Getting high in Spain...

BETTY HEDGES

It's a play of words on the saying "To hedge one's bets". It's about the fear of making decisions. It's very much the creation of songwriter Mark Nevin, we wrote it together in London ages ago. He kind of gave me the yellow card for wanting to change the song too much once I'd just recorded it, so I had to go back and change the lyrics back to their original shape. I'm glad we did. I love the sentiment "Big questions need small answers like yes and no".

YOU NEVER LEAVE LA

Most everyone I've ever met who lives in LA says that they don't really like it there. That's very interesting. I always come back to the city and I've had some great times there. I guess it depends on who you know and what you're doing there. I got signed there as a songwriter in my earliest twenties. The place has a lot of history, like most places if you scratch underneath the surface. Musically, I really wanted to have those classic chords with lots of fifths and fourths over an American drum beat. Like Bruce Hornsby or something. That sound and feel always reminds me of Los Angeles.

STORMY WEATHER

I wanted this to sound like the view from my house just before a storm sets in. That's what I think about when I play it. It's funny how storms actually bring cosiness when you're indoors.

LET THE DOG DRIVE HOME

I think this is the fourth time I've recorded this song. It's ironic that the song itself is about letting go.

VERY CARELESS PEOPLE

This used to be a quirky up-tempo song, but I changed the music drastically. I think it's my favourite from this recording session although I wish I never met that girl.

ALL I REMEMBER FROM LAST NIGHT IS YOU

This song is written very much in the tradition of musical songs. I once woke up remembering nothing but a girl and I always feel very guilty if I've had too much to drink.  It's a neccesary sin to get drunk.