Watch: Loney Dear – Violent (Best Fit Session)

Back in October of last year we met with Emil Svanängen whilst he was on a brief solo trip to London.

In town to perform a low-key show to road test songs from his latest record Hall Music, Emil treated us to a stirring version of recent single ‘My Heart’ which left all present in the room collectively open mouthed. Not stopping there, we left the cameras rolling for a second song – ‘Violent’, taken off the 2009 album Dear John. The original is one of Loney Dear’s finest moments to date – the perfect juxtaposition of lovelorn lyrics and melodic purity all backed by a rousing, stomach turning rhythm section that soars and swoops in all the right places. Here though, Svanängen strips the song to its bear bones – extending it to a lengthy 8 minutes, the complex chord progression swapped in favour of percussive guitar and gentle pipe organ accompaniment triggered by a mass of floor pedals.

It’s everything you can expect from a typical Loney Dear performance: passionate, intuative, raw and incredibly endearing. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.