Artist Intro | Alberta Cross
Kartel Music Group are delighted to introduce Alberta Cross. Led by Swedish-born lead singer and guitarist Petter Ericson Stakee, Alberta Cross continue to create a timeless alternative sound that is all their own - ‘Mercy’ is the first track to be taken from what will be their seventh album, due for release in 2023.
Written mostly at the legendary The Wool Hall in Frome Somerset with Petter’s long term producer and collaborator, Luke Potashnick, the track has a distinctive pulse that is repetitive and yet also infused with an effervescence. The lyrics, questioning and pleading “it’s always the same, you can’t rely on anything, it’s all on display….are we doing this again….mercy…can I right my wrong?” are delivered with Petter’s agile and emotive voice, spoken from a post pandemic perspective, they address the moments when life can feel like being on a treadmill and the effects that can have on mental health - a definite theme of the new record.
“Mercy is about just never being able to catch a break and that life can sometimes end up feeling like a broken record,” reflects Petter, who is now living permanently back in the UK after several nomadic years that included chapters in New York, LA and Berlin. “It’s also about when we spiral and watch those around us be affected by it.”
Luke Potashnick, who has recently bought and renovated The Wool Hall (legendary in part due to Van Morrisson and Tears for Fears recording albums there), comments on the making of the track, “I remember getting Dom Greensmith (from Reef) to play drums over what we had built so far… He understood the groove immediately and within a couple of takes we were there. Richard Causon (Kings of Leon) then added some ethereal piano and B3… The tune took on this maximalist form that then got me thinking about later-day Dire Straits and Roxy Music.” Luke continues “This mix is actually my first ruff of the song and one of the first tunes I mixed in the new studio… I think it captured what Petter and I were hoping for it, and it ultimately defined the sound of the rest of the record to come.”
The visuals to accompany the new project are equally poignant and echo the song's solitude and longing. Filmed in black and white on Super 8 cameras in Costa Brava, Spain and directed by Luis Velasco, it finds Petter as a lone sailor moving across empty water and empty landscapes, in search of an image that is only the ruin of what it once was. Dressed in black, his eyes endlessly searching beyond the horizon as the boat moves across the shimmering broad expanse.
As Luis explains, “The video refers to the interaction between the particular and the universal. The ocean appears as the universal and the landman is on a journey to meet himself. I was influenced by ‘Sea At Night’ paintings by Christopher Gee, some of which are included in the video, I also brought in multidisciplinary artist Diego Delgado, with whom both Petter and I have collaborated before and the video was styled by Paris based fashion designer David Miró.”
Christopher Gee, mentioned above and whose paintings are used for both the single and the album artwork, is a British artist from Portsmouth, who lives and works on The Thames Estuary, Essex. Watch the video here.
Since forming in 2005 - Alberta Cross have toured with Mumford & Sons, Portugal. The Man, Neil Young, Them Crooked Vultures (David Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones) and Rag N’ Bone Man to name a few, performed on TV around the world including The Late Show with David Letterman and Last Call with Carson Daly, had tracks featured in multiple US hit TV series (Million Little Pieces, Sons of Anarchy, Californication) and released six previous albums. Now back in the UK, Petter will be promoting the new album in the UK and across Europe throughout 2023, with US dates to come.
“..the seismic guitars and high vocals look to My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon and Crazy Horse." - New York Times
"It’s all topped by Stakee’s sweet, high-lonesome voice, which recalls both Jim James and Neil Young." - Rolling Stone
"Familiar and refreshing... Alberta Cross has taken incredible strides to earn global recognition." – NPR
‘Mercy’ is out now through Dark Matter / AMK distributed through Kartel Music Group.
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