Patrick El-Hag Raiti to give him his full name – he sounds more like a politician or a lawyer – is in fact a time-served independent musician with 30 years experience. More to the point perhaps is that he is a good friend of the ultra-quirky Swede Solblomma, who will be releasing an album in May, starting with a single on 28th April, and they have shared the same producer, Håkan Folkesson, for 26 years.
That sort of categorises him instantly in my mind, but read on.
His latest single, ‘I ett glas’ (‘In a glass’) was released on 12th April and he says it is “light years away” from what he normally does.
He adds that it could perhaps be titled ‘In a mirror’ in English because while it might appear to be a flirty love song about “an impossible love affair” the subject at hand is actually narcissism.
That’s right folks, he fancies himself.
But wait, there’s more. The song, he says, is Part Two of a trilogy about the character Hertigen av Brandgul (The Duke of L’Orange), who I assume is a made-up character as I can’t find any reference to a real person. On this occasion, the song is performed in the first person, meaning the Duke himself.
In a previous video (2021), all was revealed about his vanity and his mirrors.
Two more singles will be released shortly, one of which (‘Hästvisa’) will be the third and final single part in The Duke-trilogy.
Are you keeping up with all this? If so you perhaps begin to understand why I follow Solblomma and her wild imaginings. It’s good to know she isn’t alone.
So let’s get to the song. It’s absolutely nothing like what I was expecting. It opens up with the sort of dancy Swedish electronic synth sound I’ve heard coming out of what I call the Stockholm-Solna-Uppsala-Gävle triangle (actually more of a straight line) for many years, then we’re into Kraftwerk territory with perhaps a nod to Hazel O’Connor’s ‘Eighth Day’ in ‘Breaking Glass.’ (No pun intended, honest!)
From then on until the end it’s a quick fire (168bpm I’m told) Eurovision sing-a-long banger. Indeed it might have done well in Liverpool but pride of place was always going to the mighty Loreen.
If you dive into the lyrics it is quite cute. The lines “Eyes that (beam)/Seduce a world to war” are steeped in the narcissism that prompts a self-obsessed thug to invade a neighbouring country because he can (or, rather, can’t as it turned out) while “Every time I see you, I see you in a glass”, moving away from the mirror imagery for a second, is suggestive of the power of the bottle, even if that wasn’t the actual intention. (And don’t they love their vodka).
The one thing I couldn’t quite relate to is the shattering glass image that Patrick used. It has more the appearance of what I’d expect the Swedish variant of coronavirus to look like.
You can easily look him up on Wiki, where there is a big page of information on him, or seek out his biography on his website.
What I found especially interesting is that amongst his multitude of exploits he has channelled Cape Verdean chanteuse Cesária Évora, came second in a newspaper vote for the ‘best Stockholm song’ on Facebook and released a dance-oriented single, ‘Spoiled’ under the pseudonym JASA (Jamaican Aeronutics and Spice Administration), whose main ambition was to land Jamaica’s first astronaut on the moon. Beats tobogganing, I suppose.
An interesting character. Check out the song; then check him out.
Incidentally, I don’t know who Lex Peter is, or quite what he does but I assure you he does ‘feature’. Wasn’t he in Superman?
‘In a Glass’ is out now, on streaming sites.
In the autumn, ‘The History of Brotherhood’, Patrick’s first album since ‘Så där’ (2007), will be released.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatrickElHagArtist
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickelhag/
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