Claus Wilhelm Nicolai Dunger is a Swedish singer and acoustic songwriter from

Piteå Piteå (; ) is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. Piteå is Sweden's 58th largest city, with a population of 23,326. Geography Piteå is located at the mouth of the Pite River (), at the shore of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He has released twelve EPs and albums, singing primarily in English, and collaborated notably with

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Son ...

, the

Esbjörn Svensson Bror Fredrik "Esbjörn" Svensson (16 April 1964 – 14 June 2008) was a Swedish jazz pianist and founder of the jazz group Esbjörn Svensson Trio, commonly known as e.s.t. Svensson became one of Europe's most successful jazz musicians at the tu ...

jazz trio and

Ebbot Lundberg Torbjörn "Ebbot" Lundberg (born 26 February 1966 in Västerås)''(In)visible Dialogues'', 2011, p. 170. Published by Dent-de-Leone. . is a Swedish artist, songwriter and music producer who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden. From 1995 to 2012, he was t ...

. He also records under the alias A Taste of Ra as well as his birth name.

Biography

A Swedish-born singer who falls under blues, folk, jazz, soul music. A former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player, Nicolai was signed by the Telegram label of

Warner Warner can refer to: People * Warner (writer) * Warner (given name) * Warner (surname) Fictional characters * Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs'' * Aaron Warner, a character in '' Shatter M ...

records, releasing two albums that did not sell enough copies to enable him to give up his part-time job as a gardener. A meeting with

of the Swedish band

The Soundtrack of Our Lives The Soundtrack of Our Lives, often abbreviated T.S.O.O.L., are a Swedish rock band that formed in Gothenburg in 1995 and disbanded in 2012, before reuniting again in 2023. The band's style draws heavily from sixties and seventies rock and punk, ...

led to two further albums, a tour with

Emilíana Torrini Emilíana Torrini (born 16 May 1977) is an Icelandic singer and songwriter. Her works include the 2009 single "Jungle Drum (song), Jungle Drum" and the 1999 album ''Love in the Time of Science''. She performed "Gollum's Song" for the 2002 film ' ...

and the use of one of his songs in an advertisement for an oil company. This small influx of cash enabled the production of a trio of vinyl albums with the

jazz trio. This steady production of somewhat experimental acoustic music attracted the attention of Americana musicians

and

Jonathan Donahue Jonathan Daniel Donahue (born May 6, 1966) is an American rock musician. He is best known as the frontman and a founding member of Mercury Rev, with whom he has released nine studio albums since 1991. He is also a former member of The Flaming Lip ...

, and a contract with the

Dolores Recordings Dolores Recordings is a Swedish record label owned by Telegram Studios, whose roster includes I'm from Barcelona, Swingfly, Caesars, and some releases by The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Dungen. In May 2021, Dolores was acquired by Round Hil ...

branch of

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

followed. The first album on this label, ''Soul Rush'', with backing from the Esbjörn Svensson trio, attracted some limited attention in 2001, but the next album, 2002's ''Tranquil Isolation'', achieved widespread attention, especially thanks to its input from Will Oldham. A third album, ''Here's My Song, You Can Have It'', followed in 2004. He has featured on both

Nina Persson Nina Elisabet Persson (; born 6 September 1974) is the lead singer and lyricist for the Swedish rock band The Cardigans. She also has worked as a solo artist, releasing two albums as A Camp and one under her own name, and has appeared as a guest ...

's second "A Camp" record, and on Maia Hirasawa's album ''GBG vs STHLM''.

Discography

* 1996 ''Songs Wearing Clothes'' * 1997 ''Eventide'' * 1999 ''This Cloud Is Learning'' * 2000 ''Blind Blemished Blues'' * 2001 ''A Dress Book'' * 2001 ''Soul Rush'' * 2002 ''Sweat Her Kiss'' * 2002 ''The Vinyl Trilogy'' * 2003 ''Tranquil Isolation'' * 2004 ''Here's My Song, You Can Have It...I Don't Want it Anymore'' * 2006 ''Sjunger Edith Södergran * 2007 ''Rösten Och Herren'' * 2008 ''Nicollide and the Carmic Retribution'' * 2009 ''Play'' * 2010 ''Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Vallmo'' (duo album with Jonas Kullhammar, released on vinyl only in 300 copies) * 2011 ''Ballad of This Land'' * 2022 ''Every Line Runs Together''

Trivia

Dunger's song "Something in the Way" was featured in a

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

commercial in the U.S. in July 2008. His song "Dr Zhivago's Train" was recorded by

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful and soulful voice, sartorial elegance and stylistic explorations, combining soul, funk, jazz, rock, pop, regga ...

on his 2003 album ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" * ...

''.

References

External links

Official website
archived
Short biography

Review of Tranquil Isolation
at

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunger, Nicolai Living people People from Piteå Swedish alternative country singers 1969 births Zoë Records artists