Mats Karlsson, guitarist and songwriter with classic Swedish hard rock act 220 Volt is releasing his first ever solo album titl ed “The Time Optimist” on December 6th 2019. Mats, a native Swede grew up in Östersund in northern Sweden but has resided in Stockholm since the mid 80’s.
The new record is a collection of songs that are a bit more laid back than the 220 Volt stuff, and m ove freely between rock, hard rock, singer/songwriter style and some AOR touches here and there. Mats asked his brother Ulf to play all keyboards, and gathered some great musician friends to help out incl. drummer Björn “Grizzly” Höglund (Easy Action, The Summit, Hoven Droven), drummer Peter Hermansson (220 Volt, Talisman, John Norum), Bass ace Nalle Påhlsson (Therion, Treat, Easy Action), and also some well known musicians in Sweden as drummer Mike Ajax, bassist Lars Ericsson ( The Summit), the first 220 Volt singer Christer “Frille” Åsell and also vocalist Jenny Fall.
“The Time Optimist” consists of 11 tracks in different styles, nine tracks penned by Mats, one by Mats co written with Björn Höglund, and the album also has a cover of the track “Real Gone” by Sheryl Crow/John Shanks. There are two duets where Mats shares the lead vocals with singer Jenny Fall, and one with “Frille” Åsell.
The term “time optimist” is a Swedish expression referring to a person who is always positive that he/she will achieve a certain amount of work in specified time and often failing.
This self produced release will come out on CD, vinyl and on digital platforms on December 6th. 2019. “Megalo Seitani” is available as a lyric video & single and a second track will also be released ahead of the album.
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