“It began as fragments of reflections and evolved into a body of work shaped by transformation — a document of endings and awakenings.”
Transformation is the catalyst for Josefin Öhrn’s debut solo album Cherry. She describes it as her “most intimate and self-defined album yet” exploring themes of “fresh starts, desire, love and grief” where “the female gaze – not as a concept, but a lived experience with a sense of longing running through the album like a pulse: a longing for connection, for freedom“.
While there are still echoes of the psychedelic colours that swirled through her work with band The Liberation, this album is alive with the kind of intelligent songwriting that brings depth to the normally shallow world of pop. The album was recorded at Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm‘s Svenska Grammofonstudion studio in Gothenburg which Öhrn says is “where artists can stay, so I was totally living the album, breathing music every waking and sleeping hour as I was far away from my everyday life in London” explains Josefin. “It was a beautiful experience.“
We wanted to know more about the most beautiful and captivating world that Josefin Öhrn has created on Cherry and she was kind enough to oblige with this insightful track by track breakdown.
Electrified –with backing vocals from Bobby Gillespie
When you have a moment of an almost magical thrill with a lover, when the senses, and surroundings all come together. That super heightened state of mind, dopamine bliss. But it’s that beginning phase where you don’t know if it’s just lust or could be love. Maybe that thing of asking yourself does it mean anything if it’s just for a fleeting moment?
Dreaming Of You
Is all about desire, about that longing for connection, with that someone. I do believe love can come in many other forms than a romantic relationship. I think that a very important thing for me is being able to express my creativity, and being true to oneself/myself and following my own path.
And also, music is love right?
Cherry Tree
When you fall in love with someone who isn’t available, that bittersweet experience. Haven’t we all experienced that?
I think that unrequited love or when there’s love, but two people can’t be together for other reasons can be incredibly beautiful of course, it has after all inspired countless authors, filmmakers and songwriters. But at the same time, it’s an equally melancholic experience. I’m a romantic but also a realist, love is not enough after all, to make a relationship work. Love can be a feeling but I think that a deeper-rooted love comes from actions we take, yes I’m a fan of Bell Hooks, ‘All About Love’.
Lose Yourself – a duet with Anton Newcombe
I almost see it as a nostalgic love letter, that has that dreamy feel to it, is it about a past love or a future possibility? Will you dare to lose yourself in it?
The Real Thing
A comment on the dating app era we’re in now. With love bombing and projections. People’s desires and fears amplified. As if it’s really uncool to want a monogamous, real love story. I think the best feeling is when two people only want each other, that passion and deep friendship.
It can feel very naked/vulnerable to write about love and relationships and longings. But I also love when both female and male artists, like rock musicians; even if the sound is raw and hard, the lyrics they write are about love. I guess we humans are just simple beings after all. Wanting love, connection and belonging to work out, cause it’s such a core need.
Always On My Mind
Kalle (Gustafsson Jerneholm of Soundtrack Of Our Lives who produced the album) is an Elvis fan and since I hadn’t recorded a cover before I thought it’d be a great experience. ‘Always On My Mind’, is my gift to all neglected women out there haha. We recorded it with an all-female choir and string arrangements.
What If
Is about loss and how fleeting life can be. Written after the sudden death of someone who was very close to me during my childhood and who played a formative role in my teenage years. We are always in motion and we just have a certain amount of time here on earth. Sometimes we forget about that but sometimes it’s very noticeable.
I Want You
This has a similar theme to ‘Dreaming Of You’, that total desire of someone, (very obvious with that title haha) when you can’t stop thinking about them. Love is the drug right? Haha, So I wanted to write a happy, dancey song about that feeling I was experiencing at the time.
Jag Ger Dig Min Morgon
This is a Swedish cult song from the 70’s by Fred Åkerström, he adapted the original English version by Tom Paxton ‘I Give You the Morning’ to Swedish. I always loved both the melody and lyrics.
And it felt intriguing to record a song in Swedish for the first time. Connect to my Swedish roots.
The lyrics touch on similar themes as Elvis’s ‘Always On My Mind’, where there is love between two people but maybe it hasn’t been conveyed.
The Shoreline
Is a reflection on belonging and connection and cultural identity. Growing up in Sweden with family in France and Belgium and then having lived in the UK the last decade, there are culture clashes that are quite amusing at times but also that feeling of not really knowing where ‘home’ is. I guess a lot of artist feel like they don’t really belong in a normative society, so we have to create our own ‘home’. Kind of like ‘The Hero’s Journey’ – Joseph Campbell
29 September – Rough Trade, Denmark Street, London (Tickets here)
1 October – The Jacaranda Club, Liverpool (Tickets here)
Josefin Öhrn: Instagram | Facebook
Main photograph by Colette Slater Barrass
Introduction by Paul F Cook
Keep up to date with all new content on Joyzine via our
Facebook | Bluesky | Instagram | Threads | Mailing List