Described as the most hated guy in Göteborg, Alexander Gustafsson used to lead the band Portrait Painters about 15 years ago. In 2009, when he was 22, we saw the band release two digital singles on Bonjour Recordings and after that they just fizzled out.
“Forgive/Forget” (BJR004) was the first song they put out and then came “A Future Crime” (BJR007). As mentioned both came on Bonjour who was the home of two bands familiar to Cloudberry, Bye Bye Bicycle and Bonnie and Clyde.
On Discogs there are some details about the songs worth checking out. “Forgive/Forget” had Adam Bolméus (from Bad Cash Quartet and Hästpojken) on electric and acoustic guitar, as well as in arrangements and co-producing. Kalle Von Hall (from Bad Cash Quartet) played synths and co-produced while Alexander Sand sang and made the music. I supposed Alexander Sand is Alexander Gustafsson.
On “A Future Crime”, the people on the song changed quite a bit. Now we see Jakob Schroeder (from Bye Bye Bicycle) on acoustic guitar, Nils Bengtsson Blomstrand on bass, Viktor Englund on drums, Samuel Petersson (from Bye Bye Bicycle) on electric guitar and arrangements, Mattias Glavå as the executive producer and André Vikingsson (from Bye Bye Bicycle) who made the music together with Alexander Sand who also wrote the lyrics.
Also make sure you check out the video that was made for “A Future Crime” which is quite fun. The video was shot in Göteborg and Stockholm during June of 2009.
A good find is this 2008 interview with Alexander on the newspaper Borås Tidning. There it mentions that he used to live in the town of Sätila. Also another interesting bit is that “Forgive/Forget” was a song he had written when he was 16 years old. Another good bit of info is that the band’s name came from a song by The Bear Quartet.
We also learn a little bit more about Alexander. He was self-employed at the time as a graphic designer. He was studying art science.
I notice that the band played a few important places like Pustervik in Göteborg, Musikens Hus, or Underjorden where there is some live footage on the web.
Lastly I believe the band had more songs. I have found on the web two more, one called “Yellow Car (Demo)” and another called “The Game“. Not sure how these got their way on the web, maybe they were on the band’s Myspace at one point?
And then, what happened to Alexander? He seemed quite talented. Hope he continued making songs? Anyone knows?
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