During the pandemic, I tried my hand and head at a couple of distanced Zoom co-writes. To be fair, nothing much came of it. I found it a bit hard. With one exception. Sam Genders, from Tunng and Diagrams, was a delight to work with. Another expat Brit, he these days lives on the island Orust on the Swedish west coast. Wrong coast for me, though, and we have yet to meet IRL. But we managed to write a couple of songs!
One of them stayed with me, and I just had to have a go at recording it. A folky ballad, almost sea-shantiesque verse stood against a bigger rhythmical chorus and a middle-eight that is very me somehow. A nice construction, feel and sentiment on the whole. I can’t exactly remember how we did it, but I do think the majority of the lyrics came from Sam and the majority of the music came from me.
Of course, this lyric about trusting the good in people, in these awful times we’re in at the moment, feels a bit overoptimistic. Too many people out there are really not caring about others at all – rather the opposite. But we need hope and trust. And we need comforting stories in song. I wanted the recording of this to reflect the acoustic folky nature of the composition but also have something grand about it, like the mountains and valleys; a hint of Spector Wall of Sound. We did it at Daniel Bengtson’s Studio Rymden. I was on acoustic guitars, Andreas Nordell on double bass, Nino on drums. Daniel did various things; vibraphone, piano, percussion, different keys. He’s a great Swiss army knife and perfect for “bigger” songs like this; it suits his production style. And my friend Ulrika Gyllenberg, whom I’ve gotten to know through us both playing with James Yorkston, played wonderful violin, just right!
I was happy with the result, but I always heard more voices. And the first voice I thought of in this context was Lisa Hannigan. I love her records, I’m a longtime fan, and just knew it would fit. I don’t know her, but we have mutual friends, and I’m delighted she agreed. Sam also did great harmonies and BV’s, and now it’s a true vocal-group performance. Maybe one day we can sing it together in the same room? It would be so lovely.
Credits
Release: 2025-05-15 (May 15, 2025)
Catalogue number: VLL71
© & ℗: 2025 SunYears under exclusive license to Villa
Last Night On The Mountain (Ft. Lisa Hannigan and Sam Genders)
Written By: Peter Morén, Sam Genders
Produced By Peter Morén, Daniel Bengtson
Engineered By: Daniel Bengtson And Sofia Kristensen At Studio Rymden.
Additional Recordings By: Lisa Hannigan, Sam Genders, Niklas Berglöf
Mixed By: Niklas Berglöf
Mastered By: Magnus Lindberg
Peter Morén: Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Nylon String Guitar
Lisa Hanningan: Lead Vocals, Harmony Vocals
Sam Genders: Harmony Vocals, Backing Vocals
Daniel Bengtson: Crumar Piano, Grand Piano, Vibraphone, Mellotron, Pump Organ, Percussion, Snare Drum
Andreas Nordell: Double Bass
Ulrika Gyllenberg: Violin
Nino Keller: Drums, Percussion
