Peter von Poehl

The debut album by Swede Peter von Poehl, which in the last year garnered a heap of excitement in the French music scene, is set for release stateside on June 10, 2008. Between pop-folk ballads and pocket symphonies basking in boreal luminosity, the 12 songs of Going to Where the Tea Trees Are form a beautiful album with imaginative arrangements and dreamy melodies.

"The Story of the Impossible" stirred up a warm reception at French radio, in conjunction with the 2007 Bella Union European release. It's a cozy song that pulls you in and takes you on a journey that you'll want to embark on again and again. Gentle guitar strums and playful piano harmonies provide a lush backdrop for von Poehl's contemplative vocals, and the saxophone adds a serene closing.

Swedish by his mother and German by his father, Peter von Poehl recorded Going to Where the Tea Trees Are partially in the Swedish countryside and in his Berlin apartment. The recording bears no signs of the shiny shell or overblown workings of many pop productions. Instead, the music took advantage of the basic surroundings it was recorded in to emerge as a lively, vibrant recording, loaded with inspiration.

Going to Where the Tea Trees Are is a continually surprising record, yet thanks to Peter's mesmerizing voice, quickly familiar. He gives us as many faces as musical facets, and behind the fragmented prism of these first offerings, there's a vague unity to all the songs. Threaded through everything is that notion of being a foreigner in your country and feeling adrift in your own home, as if you could be anywhere. But this modern troubadour, new wave folk singer of ingenious and moving songs, isn't going anywhere. Peter von Poehl will be with us for a long while to come. He recently supported Brian Wilson at his one-off Paris show. He's also found huge fans in Air, and they took him out as support on their last world tour. He is currently supporting label-mate Stephanie Dosen on tour in the UK.