Peacebird (album)

Peacebird is the first album by Peacebird, a side project of Swedish singer and songwriter Johan Christher Schütz. First released in Japan on October 5, 2011, with a pre-release on iTunes Japan on the United Nations' International Day of Peace, September 21.

Contents

• Track listing
• Songs
• References

All songs are written, arranged and produced by J. C. Schütz, and the album has a wide range of influences, mainly 1970's soul, funk, pop and acoustic British folk. Schütz relaxed vocal style with jazzy phrasing and love for syncopations creates a tension, as most songs on the album are uptempo, such as the first track Slow Down which in deed is not a slow song at all.

The album was recorded in Sweden, Japan and Brazil with musicians such as Japanese bass player Reiji Okii, Brazilian drummer Di Stéffano, Swedish horn players Andreas Andersson (alto and soprano saxophones) and Karin Hammar (trombone), and some songs including groove by Glenn Fransson (bass) and Jocke Sandén (drums). Japanese guitar player Yoshinari Nakamatsu is also participating in two songs, and the backing vocals are sung by Swedish jazz singer Lovisa Lindkvist and Japanese soul singer Chihiro Fujita. Schütz plays all other instruments on the album, including guitar, piano, keyboards, cavaquinho, and also utilized loops and programmings in all songs in varying degrees.

A music video for the jazzy Pickin' Up The Pieces was published on YouTube along with the pre-release on iTunes Japan, showing extreme close-ups of Schütz' face with a crystal-clear image, working well with the song's melancholic theme of farewell.

The CD version of the album includes a download code for a free bonus track called Happy Birthday, an original song by Schütz written and recorded at the same time as the rest of the songs.

The song Let The Sunlight In was originally released by Japanese singer Toki Asako on her 2008 album Touch.

iTunes and several other online platforms has accidentally given the third track Anything For You the same title as the fourth; Pickin' Up The Pieces.

During every day of the first week of the release, Slow Down was one of the three most played songs on Japanese FM radio stations in Tokyo and Kansai metropolitan regions, and two of these days the most played song. It was also the most played foreign song during all October.