No Depression Sessions at Rootsy Winter Fest: Johan Örjansson

Johan Örjansson played our final day of No Depression Sessions at Rootsy Winter Fest in Falkenberg, Sweden, offering three brand new songs, including “California Tide,” which was written just a few days prior to this session. This new batch represents Örjansson’s move back toward the folk end of the folk-pop spectrum. The songs in this session, including “Halloween,” up first, are stripped down to the basics, featuring Örjansson’s voice at the forefront with tasteful licks from guitarist Peter Bengtsson.

Örjansson released several albums between 2006 and 2012 under his own name. Then, in 2013, the music and the musician evolved into an alter ego known as Basko Believes. Around that time, Örjansson met Joey McClellan and McKenzie Smith from the band Midlake while McClellan and Smith were in Israel Nash Gripka’s band for a Swedish tour for which Örjansson was the opening act. This process culminated in the 2014 release of the Basko Believes album Idiots Hill, which was recorded in McClellan and Smith’s studio in Denton, Texas, and features world-class musicians from the Denton scene.

The new album will be out at some point in 2023 and will likely be released under Örjansson’s name. Örjansson intends for the new record to have more in common with the 2014 Basko Believes record than with the exploratory period during which he released the Johan Örjansson albums. Please enjoy “Halloween,” “Hospital 22,”and “California Tide” in this session and stay tuned for the upcoming studio album.