Freja The Dragon Breaks Down Every Track From Her Midnight Feelings EP

If Swedish singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Freja The Dragon isn't yet on your radar, today is the day to change that—and her new Midnight Feelings EP is the place to start.

The sophomore EP features four unforgettable tracks, including lead single "Closer" featuring Swedish indie legends Peter Bjorn and John, demonstrating Freja The Dragon's versatility as the combines melodic, folksy rock with rousing '80s-inspired synths, and everything in between. If you're curious about the new songs, you're in luck, because Freja was generous enough to break down each and every one for us in the interview below.

'Closer' (feat. Peter Bjorn and John)

Freja The Dragon: It started with Björn having a 10-year-old instrumental draft that was intended for a project with covers of Nancy Sinatra songs. He sent it over to me, I sang over it and the song came about. We have felt that it has something extra, so it also took a very long time to complete the production. When we started to find the right direction, we realized that we should try to have more voices and then had Peter Morén add vocals to the verses but treat it more like a lead, like two parts becoming a melody in the verses. We had Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreaming" as a reference, and to give it the feeling they have with all the vocals, we had several friends add choirs to the choruses.

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'Midnight'

Freja The Dragon: Björn and I wrote this song with Joakim Berg (from legendary Swedish band Kent). He came to the studio one afternoon, and when we left, we had finished almost two songs. It feels like the songs just flowed out of us and we had the same weakness for portraying melancholy, which is also a theme throughout the EP. Unlike the other recordings, where we have real drums and multiple instruments recorded at the same time, we used programmed drums and added instrument by instrument in the process.

'Someday'

Freja The Dragon: This has taken the longest time to make. It started with Björn and I sitting in the studio with a guitar each and coming up with the melody and the chords. We then tried to record a foundation with guitar, drums, bass and keys. The song still barely had any lyrics. Then you can say that it has been resting, but we've come back to it on a few occasions over the course of three years. In this case, it was probably a good thing that we took a break from it and kind of forgot about everything, because when we picked it up again, we realized that we already had some parts in place and the rest worked out naturally. But not the lyrics. I had written a lot of different things but was never satisfied, so I got help from Victoria Bergsman (Taken By Trees) to finish the last parts.

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'We're Changing'

Freja The Dragon: This is my favorite song on the EP. It took a very short time to write it. It's about a previous relationship that was about to end. You know when you've just admitted to yourself that it's time to break up and move on. Although the song was written quickly, the production took considerably longer. I think we've had at least five different versions. We ended up going back to one of the first productions that was based on bass guitar and drums and went from there. A common thread through all the songs on the EP is that I have dared to let the productions be influenced by what I listen to and not try to overthink. I think we've succeeded in that, especially on this one. Haim and Karen Dalton have been, for example, some of the people I listened to during the time we produced the EP.

Curious about what other new music we're loving this week? Click HERE to read our interview with Phoneboy on their new single, "Ferrari."