Karl Jonas of Blood Music on the hope in "There is hope"

Swedish singer-songwriter also talks U.S. folk singer Malvina Reynolds

Cover of “The Light of the Future, Dark of the Past” by Karl Jonas and Blood Music. All images © Sing a song fighter

By Chilltown Blues

We may have discovered the work of Karl Jonas Winqvist sometime around the onset of the Covid pandemic, in the form of Blood Music. Soon thereafter, we delved deep into the extensive catalog of his record label, Sing a song fighter; they’d recently re-released “There is hope,” the 2001 debut album of First Floor Power, the Swedish quartet Winqvist was a member of.

From the album’s cover sporting some of its members/associates holding a banner that reads “There is hope,” (the album’s final/title track) Winqvist has continued, with the spirit of folk music arguably as a core, creating albums as expeditions seeking and encouraging hope — with a stalwart sense of why that’s not easy — along with broad musical explorations by him and associates under his label.

“There is hope,” Winqvist sings on that album’s title track, “when the pain you're in is going up ... instead of down."

Along with his steering Blood Music, there’s also the Hope Singers. So, during this particular time as we looked at that album cover, we wondered if there was a particular reason hope needed reaffirming in 2001 — but most specifically Sweden in that cataclysmic era-defining year?

“People are always being tricked, fooled, used. And not being told the truth. So our version (of ‘What’s Goin’ On Down There?’) is for all whistleblowers and truthtellers.” - Karl Jonas

Ahead of new music from the Hope Singers this November (and just behind the release of Slow Summer EP), Winqvist answered some questions from Chilltown Blues about that subject and more, like his fondness for the under-known American folk singer Malvina Reynolds.

Cover Photo by Emanuel Almborg

“‘There is hope' was not referring to Sweden at the moment, nor the world,” Winqvist said. “More a well-wishing and a pat on the shoulder to everyone who is in need of it, no matter where geographically.”

In 2001, Winqvist had just finished the last in a series of operations to treat a brain aneurysm discovered at the end of the ‘90s. “So, from time to time they operated in tiny bits to make sure I could cope,” he explained. “And after every operation I was laying in beds somewhere and had like two weeks recovery from headaches and weird feelings. And the one thing the doctors always asked before and after the operations was if this had affected my mood. If I was depressed or felt hopelessness, because there is a risk when you mess with the brain etc. ...

“So, I guess, personally, I was struggling at the time,” Winqvist said. “And I also thought a lot about people walking around on Earth in loneliness or without hope. I wanted to sing a song about not giving up to encourage people in need of it. Like myself ...”