Info about Granada
"Takes a lot of walking" is the title of Granada's second album. It consists of ten songs that were recorded during the winter months of 2001-2002 by Björn Olsson, a leading guitarist and former member of Union Carbide Productions, Soundtrack of Our Lives, Bear Quartet and Spain, and mixed by Mattias Glavå, the same duo that were involved in the making of the debut album. The first single taken from the album is a track called "Everyplace we went" and it was very well received by the National radio and all college stations. In Denmark both that single and "Once long ago" managed to get great airplay. The album has also received beautiful reviews in all countries its been released in, so far that includes Scandinavia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. "Takes a lot of walking" marks the return for Granada to the independent label Look Left Recordings, now distributed by V2 Music Scandinavia. The artwork on this album is, as on all Granada releases, painted by singer Anna Järvinen.
Granada supported Scottish band Belle & Sebastian at their sell-out shows in Sweden in 2002., but due to the fact that Anna & Christoffer had a daughter last year no real touring was possible. Granada will tour key cities in Sweden and Denmark in April and May, and is hoping to make some festival appearances during this summer. An extensive tour is being planned for the fall.
The group's history started when "the stockholm three" Jonas Ohlson (keyboards), Petter Lorentzon (drums) and Christoffer Gunrup (lead guitarist), met Magnus Vikström (singer and guitarist) from Luleå (far north in Sweden) and decided that they together should form a band. The name of the group was taken from Christoffer's worn-out TV-set. But it was when Anna Järvinen, during a visit to Granada´s rehersalplace, started to sing along with Magnus that they discovered that their voices were so well suited for each other. They realised that they had to start singing together. Anna joined the band and then things really started to make sense. Colin Greig, a Scottish bassist and former member of the band Long Fin Killie, completed the line up.
Granada makes music that is soft, often very low-key and truly heartfelt. The Swedish publication Bibel early described it as conveying: "an exquisite, unworldly atmosphere". Stefan Malmqvist, a journalist at the Swedish daily paper Svenska Dagbladet, said that it felt: "so intimate that it sometimes sounds as if they are your best friends whispering a secret to you."
Their much appreciated debut EP "Everyone Wants To" was released in November 1999 by the newly started independent label Look Left Recordings. It was a huge success on National radio and on all college stations. One year later they had toured the country, signed to the Swedish majorlabel Sprinkler / Universal Music, recorded their debut album and had another minor hit with the track "Amazing it seems". The second single "Sister" managed get on a weekly rotation on the MTV Alternative Nation show, and to stay there for months. In November 2000 they released their debut album "Granada" which received great reviews in papers around the country. The album was later also released in France, Norway and Denmark, and even in those countries it received fantastic reviews.
