We caught up with the talented Cape Lion who first caught our attention with his beat making – but we learned he has a whole lot more tricks up his sleeve to learn about!
Tell us who you are and what is your sound
I’m Carl-Johan “Oa” Sevedag aka Cape Lion and a whole bunch of other top secret pseudonyms. A 33 year old, Stockholm based composer, songwriter, producer and general noise maker.
Describing my sound is a bit tricky since I’m not very genre consistent. I guess a general thread throughout what I make is that I like synthetic sounds with an organic touch, harmonies with a twist and a bit of quirky melodies.
What exciting projects have you got coming up?
My main job these days is film scoring so there’s quite a bit going on that front. I did the music for the movie Horizon Line with my buddy Jon Ekstrand. It’s coming out really soon.
We also did the series Top Dog (Hidden Agenda) that is being rolled out right now.
Right now I’m scoring the Netflix movie Red Dot. Lot’s of fun!
When I’m not working on scoring I try to keep myself busy with my own music. That’s how this beat tape Piscolabis came to be. Cape Lion is usually a pop act, but this time I felt it was time to go back to my roots a bit and just make a pure beat based release.
Where did you grow up and what music influenced you?
I was born and lived my first years outside Malmö in southern Sweden. When I was 11 my parents decided that it was time to pack our home up and move to Malaga, Spain.
Once I graduated school I moved back to Sweden. This time to Stockholm, where I still live.
I got a hip hop compilation album when I turned 10 called Rap Attack. I got completely hooked and all I wanted to do was to make beats. It was a bit trickier back then but I got some early music production software from my brother and started sampling stuff from my parents vinyl collection. A lot of Soul, Disco and Jazz. My goal was always set to be able to play all those things I sampled. 23 years later I’m still here on my computer making noise and very thankful that I can keep this as my profession.
What cool places do you recommend to visit in your city (bars, restaurants, etc)?
If you have plans to come to Stockholm, make sure your timing is right. Winters here are long, dark, cold and dull. Summers on the other hand are decently warm, bright and beautiful. The first day you can get all the touristy stuff out of the way. Go to Gamla Stan and the Vasa museum. Once that is all sorted you should just go straight to Södermalm and hang out for the rest of your stay. Go to one of the hostel boats down by Södermälarstrand and grab a drink. They’re usually not overly crowded and you get the best view over the water, Slussen and Kungsholmen on the other side. During the summer some streets are closed off for traffic and all the restaurants and bars move outside. Right outside my studio is one of those streets – Swedenborgsgatan. Just go to any place there, sit down and watch the swedes frolic after their winter hibernation.
We love recommendations – what have you been listening to, watching, or reading recently?
I recently rewatched the Swedish documentary trilogy by Stefen Jarl, “Dom Kallar Oss Mods” (They Call Us Misfits). A really rough portrait of the alienated lives of the two main characters “Kenta” and “Stoffe” and their struggles on the streets of Stockholm. The three movies span between the late 60s and the early 90s and are quite beautiful in their bluntness.
Music wise I’ve spent the last year being completely hooked on spanish 60s and 70s stuff. It’s just a never ending source of awesomeness. If you want to give it a try you should start of with these tunes:
Nino Bravo – Un Beso Y Una Flor
Encarnita Polo – Paco Paco Paco
Los Bravos – Bring A Little Loving
If you like instrumental beats you should check out the rest (besides mine) of 93-feet beats tapes that my buddies at DVSG have released. Quality stuff for every occasion right there!
Finally, what was the last thing that made you swear out loud?
Bought a campervan in the beginning of the summer and took a month long trip around Sweden. On the way back home, in a forest right in the middle of nowhere the motor decided to give up on us. Thankfully we had just climbed a pretty high slope and were able to coast all the way to a little town. There was a swearing and finally cheering when we realised that we would actually be able to make it all the way there.
To find out more on Cape Lion’s work and keep up to date with his news you can visit his website by clicking here Cape Lion
Interview by Alex Minnis
To get updates and content from Minnis2Society, please follow us on:
Twitter: Minnis2Society
Instagram: @_minnis2society
