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The following article presents an interview with Magnus Sundström, the man behind The
Protagonist, whose debut CD is scheduled to be released by Cold Meat
Industry on November 1st. The title of the CD is A Rebours, and an
exclusive pre-release review of this excellent album is also part of this article.
The Protagonist's
music is classical in design, and strongly inspired by literature, film and the fine arts.
The compositions are largely instrumental, and the sparse vocal parts are mainly of a
recitative character. Magnus has composed the eight tracks on A Rebours by
himself over a period of several years, and likewise recorded most of the album on his
own. A number of the tracks on the album have previously appeared on compilations (for a
complete listing of these, see the discography section), but these compositions are
presented in new and final versions on the CD. While Magnus prefers to work in
solitude, he is not afraid to collaborate with other musicians and vocalists, and most of
the tracks on A Rebours thus feature guest appearances by Marcus Ohlsson
(cello), Caelou (guitar), Mårten Kellerman (voice), and even Mark St. John
Ellis of Elijah's Mantle.
Although A Rebours is the
first full-length release for Magnus under the banner of The Protagonist,
he is by no means a newcomer to the music scene. In fact, he has been creating music ever
since the late eighties, often in collaboration with Peter Nyström, both on this
musician's most famous project Megaptera, but also on several
side-projects. He has also released material as Third Eye, but changed
the name of his project to The Protagonist, when he discovered the
existence of another band by that name.
The future will probably see The
Protagonist release a follow-up mini-CD to A Rebours, with amongst other
things a remix by In The Nursery -- for whose side-project Les
Jumeaux, Magnus has done a remix in the past. Another, more
"industrial," side-project is also in the works, but details on this incarnation
of Magnus' musical imagination are still scant.
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