Tor Lundvall
Tor Lundvall is a painter and musician who is based out of East Hampton, New York.
Early life and education
Lundvall graduated in 1987 from Saddle River Day School He has a B.A. in studio art with a minor in literature from the American University in Washington D.C..Art
His oil paintings are quite vivid and luminous due to his use of vibrant colors and the strong tension created between light and shadow. Lundvall's imagery is mostly inspired by rural northeastern American landscapes which he inhabits with imaginative figures and isolated individuals. His canvases often depict serene environments with an underlying sense of menace.Tor first came into the public eye in the early 1990s through his art exhibitions in New York and after creating the CD artwork for various musicians, including several projects for Tony Wakeford's dark folk group Sol Invictus.
Lundvall has also produced cover art for Gonzalo Rubalcaba's Solo CD and Miles Davis's The Blue Note and Capitol Recordings CD box-set reissue, both released on Blue Note Records. His paintings have also been featured on the covers of the March 2007 and July 2008 issues of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. Lundvall went on to create many of his own cover artworks.
Music
A resident of Wyckoff, New Jersey, Lundvall is also a musician, and his compositions are often described as dark ambient. His first album, Passing Through Alone was co-produced with his brother Kurt Lundvall and could be categorized in the Industrial music genre, as it shared little in common musically with subsequent releases. At the time Passing Through Alone was only available at Lundvall's gallery showings, but is now available again through his website.Described by BrooklynVegan as an "ambient wizard", Lundvall came to prominence as a recording artist with the release of Autumn Calls, a collaboration with Tony Wakeford released on the now defunct British record label World Serpent Distribution. Three solo albums followed, continuing the seasons-themed concept: Ice, The Mist and Under the Shadows of Trees.
After the demise of World Serpent in 2004, Lundvall released his recordings through the American label Strange Fortune until November 2008. His major releases for Strange Fortune included Last Light, Empty City and the Yule EP. Lundvall developed a "trademark, soft falsetto" voice, although Empty City features his first attempt at a largely instrumental approach for an entire album. In 2009, he began working with another American label Dais Records, which released the albums Sleeping and Hiding, The Shipyard and The Park in vinyl format. Dais also released three CD box sets by Lundvall, The Seasons Unfold, Structures and Solitude and Nature Laughs As Time Slips By. All of Lundvall's recordings are mastered by his brother Kurt. He returned to vocal music with A Dark Place. Witness Marks, an LP of Lundvall material remixed by John B. McLemore, was also released in 2018.
Tor Lundvall's music has evolved over the years from early pop songs, to a more ambient sound, which he personally finds difficult to describe or categorize.
"I suppose one could call it 'ghost ambient'! I approach my music in a visual way, starting with a very basic idea and slowly building on it. The tracks are essentially paintings with music and their titles usually reflect the contents. I have also gained a new respect for the piano over the past several years, which plays a major part in my recordings. Although I tend to use electronics and samplers, I always approach music in a natural, organic way. All samples are created at home, usually in the bedroom. I loathe patch presets and use them only rarely. In fact the process of recording is so complex, that the 'equipment used' section printed in my CD booklets is basically useless.
I find that my recent recordings are becoming progressively more instrumental and ambient in nature, although the music still retains a strong sense of melody. As with my paintings, my music has always existed in a private world of its own."
Lundvall's oeuvre was described in Amoeba Music's Music We Like series as "Misty blue and lilacs... with slow moving minor-key vocal and instrumental pieces dripping with smoky perplexity and shrouded mystery. Grey hazes on the wharf, the human mystique, regret of folly and wisps of moonlight waterfalls color this world." His personal all-time favourite albums include Peter Gabriel 3, The [Return of the Durutti Column], Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's Architecture & Morality, Harold Budd and Brian Eno's The Pearl, and Slowdive's Pygmalion.