Du & jag döden

Du & jag döden (Swedish for You & Me Death) is the sixth studio album by Swedish alternative rock band Kent. The album was released on March 15, 2005 through RCA Records and Sony BMG. It is the final studio album to feature rhythm guitarist Harri Mänty, who left the band during the recording of Tillbaka till samtiden (2007). Du & jag döden debuted at number one in Sweden and Norway, and at number two in Denmark and Finland.[7] As of 2007 the album had sold 220,000 copies worldwide.[8]

Du & jag döden
Studio album by
Kent
ReleasedMarch 15, 2005
RecordedPark Studio, Älvsjö, Sweden
GenreAlternative rock
Length48:22
LabelRCA, Sony BMG
ProducerKent, Stefan Boman
Kent chronology
Vapen & ammunition
(2002)		 Du & jag döden
(2005)		 The hjärta & smärta EP
(2005)
Singles from Du & jag döden
  1. "Max 500"
    Released: February 5, 2005
  2. "Palace & Main"
    Released: May 4, 2005
  3. "Den döda vinkeln"
    Released: August 31, 2005
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Expressen[1]
Musiklandet[2]
Dagens Skiva[3]
Muzic.se[4]
GP[5]
SVD[6]

Background

The band's previous album, Vapen & Ammunition (2002) became a commercial success, but lead singer and primary songwriter Joakim Berg has said it's not the album "we want to be remembered for".[9] Kent, along with many critics, felt that Vapen & ammunition was over-produced and according to rhythm guitarist Harri Mänty the band wanted to "rediscover, how we sound".[10] Joakim Berg wanted to distance himself from the verse-chorus-verse based songs from the previous album, saying: "On this album I didn't want those hands in the air, sing along-choruses. Instead, I wrote longer verses, and the places where you think the chorus will come, there is instead often something else", and instead he opted for songs with "a more trance-like feeling".[10]

The title Du & jag döden is a reference to Astrid Lindgren's children's novels Emil i Lönneberga where Emil says "Du och jag, Alfred".[11] As the title implies, death is a major theme of the album, of which Joakim Berg has said: "Many of the songs are about the feeling of immortality, you have within you at the age of 18. Which really is ironic because you are vulnerable especially during that time because life has not hardened you yet. Later you must come to terms with the actions of your past – the years of atonement, I will call them. And then it goes downhill with aging. So when it comes to death, then it is not the exhalation we fear. But the time leading up to it".[12] The theme is most prominent in the song "Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)" where Berg sings "Vi ska alla en gång dö" ("We will all die one day"). Berg has said of the song: "Death and taxes are the only thing you cannot avoid. It sounds depressing when you only hear that line, but the gist is that you should not worry, but do something with the time you have. Everyone is striving toward a goal all the time that seem to be based on some kind of dissatisfaction, no matter how well you are feeling."[11] In keeping with the theme, the plastic album cover and the playable side of the CD are both black.

Commercial performance

In Sweden, the album debuted at number one, becoming their fifth number-one album.[13] The album debuted at number two in Denmark, selling 4200 copies in its first week.[14]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Joakim Berg.

No.TitleMusicLength
1."400 slag" (400 Blows)Joakim Berg4:58
2."Du är ånga" (You Are Steam)Berg3:51
3."Den döda vinkeln" (The Blind Spot)Berg4:19
4."Du var min armé" (You Were My Army)Berg3:30
5."Palace & Main"Berg, Martin Sköld4:05
6."Järnspöken" (Iron Ghosts)Berg3:48
7."Klåparen" (The Bungler)Berg, Sköld5:25
8."Max 500"Berg3:35
9."Romeo återvänder ensam" (Romeo Returns Alone)Berg, Sköld4:03
10."Rosor & palmblad" (Roses & Palm Leaves)Berg4:05
11."Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)" (The Man in the White Hat (16 Years Later))Berg6:38
  • The song title "Järnspöken" plays on an expression in Swedish, "Hjärnspöken", which literally means "brain ghosts" and refers to imagined problems, from fixations and unfounded fears to paranoia and hallucinations. "Hjärna" is Swedish for "brain", whereas "järn" means "iron", but the two words are pronounced the same way.
  • A limited edition of the album was also available. This included postcards sensitive to UV-light, a booklet printed on especially thin paper and a poster with the cover picture, among other things. The limitation was 9000 items.
  • The album was also available on vinyl, limited to 1500 items.

Personnel

Charts
Chart (2005) Peak
position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[15] 2
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[16] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] 1
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 1
gollark: [citation needed]
gollark: My servers usually work fine on weeks of uptime.
gollark: On a sensible OS it's not needed.
gollark: Not really.
gollark: I have to reboot for *kernel* updates if I want the update, but that's not actually strictly *needed*.

References
  1. Nunstedt, Anders (2012-04-25). "Kent: "Du & jag döden"". www.expressen.se. Retrieved 2005-03-17.
  2. Strandlund, Jonathan (2005-03-15). "Inte så kolsvart som man kan tro". Musiklandet.se. Archived from the original on 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2005-03-15.
  3. Welander, Fredrik (2005-03-17). "Fyrtioåtta minuter närmare slutet". Dagensskiva.com. Retrieved 2005-03-17.
  4. Remfors, Oscar (2005-03-17). "Svart, sorgligt och vackert". Muzic.se. Archived from the original on 2006-09-28. Retrieved 2005-03-17.
  5. Lindqvist, Johan (2005-03-17). "Kent: Du & jag Döden". GP.se. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2005-03-17.
  6. Okänd, Okänd (2005-03-17). "Kent: Du & jag Döden". SVD.se. Retrieved 2005-03-17.
  7. "swedishcharts.com - Discography Kent". Sverigetopplistan. Hung Medien.
  8. "Kent - ett lysande undantag" (in Swedish). Affärsvärlden. 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
  9. Pedersen, Niels (14 March 2005). "Interview: Populærmusik fra Isola". Jyllands-Posten. Aarhus.
  10. Pinholt, Mads (15 March 2005). "Interview: En mørk strøm af musik". Politken. Copenhagen.
  11. Amster, Harry (10 March 2005). "Kent sneglar på döden". Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  12. Jensen, Karina Edlund (15 March 2005). "Den muntre halvdel holder de for sig selv". Berlingske. Copenhagen.
  13. "Swedishcharts.com – Kent – Du & Jag Döden". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  14. "Ugens hit: Kæmpe Kent". Ekstra Bladet. Copenhagen. 25 March 2005.
  15. "Danishcharts.dk – Kent – Du & Jag Döden". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  16. "Kent: Du & Jag Döden" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  17. "Norwegiancharts.com – Kent – Du & Jag Döden". Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
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