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Teitur (born 1977) is a singer-songwriter from the Faroe Islands. He has toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States since releasing his major label debut, Poetry & Aeroplanes. He is probably best known for his song -One and Only-, which appeared on soundtracks to the major motion pictures Aquamarine and My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and for his 2004 nomination for the Shortlist Music Prize.[1] In 2007 Teitur was named Best Male Artist at the Danish Music Awards[2], and in 2008 he opened the main stage for Radiohead at the Roskilde Festival.
Teitur has also shared a stage with Rufus Wainwright, Suzanne Vega, KT Tunstall, John Mayer, and Aimee Mann. Although considered firmly within the singer-songwriter genre, the last few years have seen Teitur's music grow in a vaster, more mature and experimental direction, including a recent collaboration with contemporary classical artist Nico Muhly. Teitur's latest album, -The Singer-, was released worldwide in the spring of 2008.
Biography
Teitur (born Teitur Lassen) was born in 1977 in the Faroe Islands, a group of islands (population 46,500) roughly equidistant between Iceland, Scotland, and Norway. Influenced by music from a young age, he gained a reputation as a gifted musician and songwriter at home early on and by the age of 17, had moved with his family to Denmark to write music full time. Within a few short years Teitur found a slot performing at the Danish music festival SPOT and a fulltime job as a songwriter for the Los Angeles-based publishing house Windswept Pacific.
Poetry & Aeroplanes
In the summer of 2003, Teitur released his debut major label album -Poetry & Aeroplanes- on Universal Records. Called -one of the most accomplished and emotionally engaging albums in recent memory-, with production by Rupert Hine (Suzanne Vega, Duncan Sheik, Tina Turner), the album was a critical hit though suffered from limited commercial sales, and failed to receive any significant industry support. Videos were produced for the songs I Was Just Thinking and Sleeping With the Lights On.
Armed with a limited budget, and a small but devoted fan-base, Teitur played over 300 shows in the year following his debut. In a September 2004 article in Esquire, fellow singer John Mayer came to Teitur's defense, stating that "the problem with watching it get smaller and smaller in my rear-view mirror is that it may be one of the best albums to come around in the last five years."[3] Mayer concluded that the "record company's complete lack of vision for his career, has contributed to his warming the bench at Universal Records."[4] Yet while his record sat unplayed in most American radio stations, word of mouth fan support led to opening slots alongside Rufus Wainwright, Aimee Mann and John Mayer, spots on the soundtracks to the films My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Aquamarine and allowed Teitur to continue touring through 2005.[citation needed]
Stay Under the Stars
On April 20, 2006, Teitur's management issued a statement that he had dropped Universal as his record label following creative differences. Teitur then partnered up with his manager to found their own label (Arlo and Betty Recordings - so named after his beloved pair of vintage Gibson acoustic guitars) and elected this time to license his albums to like minded labels around the world that share his musical vision and philosophies.
His second studio record Stay Under the Stars, produced by Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, Ron Sexsmith, KT Tunstall), was released in May 2006 in Scandinavia on the Teitur's indie label and licensed to Playground Music. After spending several months in the Danish Top-40, the album was released in the U.S. and Canada on September 5, 2006 on the newly formed Equator Records, and on iTunes on September 8, 2006. The album's breezy wispiness underneath their melancholy chord changes -- think a happier Nick Drake or a modern-day Al Stewart -- and Teitur's sparing use of orchestration and fanciful keyboard colorations make the songs seem lighter than their lyrics suggest. Videos were produced for the songs Louis, Louis and Hitchhiker and the album's finale All My Mistakes was a featured track in Socheata Poeuv's multiple award winning documentary about Cambodia, New Year Baby and on the worldwide release Songs for Tibet. In November 2006, Stay Under the Stars was certified Gold in Denmark.[5]
Káta Horniđ
In May, 2007 Teitur released his first album in his native Faroese language. The album was published at the Faroese label Tutl on May 14, 2007 entitled Káta Horniđ.[6]
The Singer
The Singer, Teitur's third English-language album was released worldwide in the Spring of 2008. The album was recorded on a picturesque Scandinavian island called Gotland. The title track, with its mixture of direct storytelling, subtle humor, and musical minimalism, sets the tone for the rest of the album. Teitur channels a Scandinavian vibe into slow, often dark songs that can feel like musical fragments because of their sparse instrumentation and lack of traditional pop-song structure. The album has been called quiet, beautiful, harsh and contemplative, very natural and somehow nordic sounding. There are very few syncopations in the music and the setting is minimalist and dramatical with vast colours and large empty landscapes. The songs are written over a seven year period and focus on individual events and experiences - like drinking beers on a musty hotel floor with mysterious blues musician Chris Whitley, before he died of cancer (Legendary Afterparty), or falling in love with a woman who brings you your drinks (Catherine the Waitress). The Singer entered the Danish charts at no. 6, and made its way to the no. 1 album on iTunes in Denmark. Teitur worked closely with arranger Tróndur Bogason and the album was recorded in a Swedish princess' summerhouse from 1860, which is now used as a summer hotel called "Fridhem.".
Appearances
Touring
Since his debut release in 2003, Teitur has performed over 500 shows around the world, with recurring stops in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, France, US and Canada. This included a number of high profile performances at festivals such as Les Eurokeenes Festival in France, SXSW in the United States, Benicassim in Spain where he played with a 10 piece orchestra, and most recently opening the main stage at the Roskilde Festival. In October 2006 he had the rare honor of being invited to perform in Hanoi, Vietnam. While considered primarily a solo artist, Teitur's most recent tour in support of The Singer featured a back-up band that included Anna Emilsson, Unnur Jónsdóttir, Helgi Jónsson, Tróndur Bogason, and Jónas Bloch Danielsen in addition to his regular studio musicians Mikael Blak (bass) and Derek Murphy (drums).
Media
Teitur has been featured on MTV's You Hear it First, NPR's Music, Uncensored Interview, CNN, Canada's The Mike Bullard Show, and numerous television programs throughout Scandinavia.
Discography
Studio Albums
Soundtrack Appearances
Collaborations
- Choux Pastry Heart, co-writer with Corinne Bailey Rae on the album Corinne Bailey Rae
- Cloud Gazing, co-writer with Gordie Sampson on the album Sunburn
- Rubber & Soul, appearance with Ane Brun on the album Duets
- Confessions Songcycle, co-writer and appearance with Nico Muhly for the Holland Baroque Society, first performed at the CrossLinx Festival in Holland in March 2008.
References
External links
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