Sweden’s Sarah Klang Announces New Album ‘Mercedes’ Out Oct 20

Today, Sarah Klang announces her new album Mercedes will be released October 20th via Nettwerk. Klang has enjoyed plenty of success in her career to date, with three Top 5 albums in her homeland of Sweden, as well as winning the Swedish Grammy for Best Album twice. Yet none of that could prepare her for an entirely different journey. Leaving her twenties behind and becoming a mother with her first child, whom the album is named for, became the catalyst for a new cycle of songs all grounded in personal, but also general shared human experiences. Sarah delivers these songs with the steam-of-conscious storytelling style that has endeared her to so many, but now with more candour.

Making music is how Klang has always processed changes in her life – like moving to the country and changing schools as a young girl. The experience had a profound impact on her life, not least because of how tough her school was – a place where bullying was rife. Being an expectant mother took her squarely back to that period, recalling what she experienced in vivid detail after years of suppressing the memories. Nowhere is this more apparent than on her emotive new single “Halloween Costume,” which deals with themes of teenage bullying and mental health musically wrapped in bright americana-pop warmth. Listen to “Halloween Costume” HERE. 

“I had trauma and PTSD from my teenage years – something I didn’t realise for many years,” Klang explains. “After therapy, I remembered that I genuinely thought I would go mad during that time in my adolescence. I had definitely blocked it all out, but after therapy, I started to process it all in a way I had never done previously. At the time of it happening when I was young, music was what I used to cope. I would lose myself in songwriting and compositions, listening to dance, Americana and great nineties beats.” She adds, “I guess it’s about defiance in a way too. About overcoming something as monumental as this. I started to feel a kindness towards myself that I hadn’t felt before, after years of blaming myself for what happened. I started to feel compassion towards my younger self. A lot of peace came as a result.”

Klang has previously shared the song “Magic Stone,” a gently uplifting and hopeful ode to her baby girl told through her hypnotizing brand of americana-influenced vintage pop, and lead single “Mercedes,” a soaring synth-driven track that radiates with optimism for her daughter’s future. She also recently announced headline shows across the UK and Europe, starting October 25th in Brighton, UK. She has earned her fans all over Europe for her live sets that are at once exhilarating, moving and intimate. All dates are below.

Klang has always had a talent for autobiographical song writing, like on her acclaimed debut Love in The Milky Way (2018), which won Best Album at the Swedish Grammis awards. It continued on Creamy Blue (2019), her second album that earned another nomination for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Alternative Pop’ at the Grammis awards, and another nod for ‘European Album Of The Year’ at the IMPALA Awards.  While her sound had previously touched upon a mix of influences (‘60 and ‘70s pop, Americana, an undercurrent of country), 2021’s VIRGO – her most well-received album to date – then broadened her scope to include elements of ‘80s synth-pop (again winning a Swedish Grammy for Best Alternative Pop). Tastemaker praise followed, notably from i-D, Rolling Stone and Clash.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

Oct. 25            Brighton, UK – Latest Music Bar

Oct. 26            London, UK – Oslo

Oct. 28            Glasgow, UK – The Glad Cafe

Oct. 29            Manchester, UK – YES

Oct. 30            Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club

Nov. 1             Antwerp, BE – TRIX

Nov. 2             Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Nov. 3             Paris, FR – Le Hasard Ludique

Nov. 5             Berlin, DE – Badehaus

Nov. 6             Copenhagen, DK – lille VEGA
Nov. 13           Oslo, NO – Cosmopolite

Nov. 14           Uppsala, SE – Katalin
Nov. 15           Stockholm, SE – Cirkus

Nov. 16           Örebro, SE – Frimis

Nov. 17           Malmö, SE – Plan B

Nov. 18           Göteborg, SE – Gothenburg Film Studios