Loney, Dear is the solo project of Swedish chamber pop singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen. Hailing from the small city of Jonkoping, Sweden, Svanängen first began recording homemade, overdubbed tapes of delicate, folkish indie pop (with shades of acts like Belle & Sebastian, Neutral Milk Hotel, and the Magnetic Fields) in the early 2000s. As Loney, Dear, Svanängen self-released three home-made CD-Rs through his website: River Fontana Redux, Citadel Band, and Sologne. As buzz developed through MP3 blogs and other new media manifestations, Sub Pop offered Svanängen a contract in 2006. The first proper Loney, Dear album, Loney, Noir, was released in early 2007, as Svanängen put together a full-band lineup of the group for his first international tour. Dear John arrived in 2009, followed by Hall Music in 2011, the latter of which found the multi-instrumentalist mining even more ornate instrumentation inspired by tours with various orchestras in Sweden. Seemingly disappearing from the limelight over the next few years, Svanängen released a handful of tracks; including reworking's of previous songs and a guest spot on Johan Agebjörn's track "The Leftovers." Svanängen continued to play live dates and started to write and record what would be his sixth studio album. The resulting eponymous release appeared in late 2017 and saw Svanängen sign to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records. ~ Stewart Mason