“The record is very flamboyant and surrealistic. The sound of a planet being reborn.” The answer sounds pretentious to me, but then realize that if it comes out of Ebbot Lundberg’s mouth, lead singer of the Swedish band The Soundtrack of Our Lives, one can assume the answer hits right on the spot. Their sound experimentation became it's own trade mark after four studio albums, and a singles, EPs and rarities compilation CD called A Present from the Past. He’s talking about their next album Origin vol. II, which is expected to be released next spring. “We’ve been on a very successful tour in China and in Spain. There are some shows for us in Canada and after that we start finishing the Origin II sessions”, tells Ebbot.

As the title reveals, this record will be a second chapter from the 2004’s first delivery. “About 40 songs were recorded and we wanted a more straightforward sound, sort of back to the roots, thus the name Origin", explains Lundberg. Something similar to what happened to their second album, which contained remaining material from their 1996’s debut Welcome to the Infant Freebase. “This new album will contain the more psychedelic stuff that we left off Origin vol. I".

The band is a well-oiled machine, and each member is one of the gears that keep it in motion. They are influenced by bands such as the Stones and Love, but we can also throw Syd Barrett, early Captain Beefheart, and The Who into the mix. “Space folk” is Ebbot’s favorite definition of their music, describing it as "a sound existing somewhere in the limitless field between the center of the Universe and planet Earth". His speech is filled with mystical references and his looks fits accordingly: A dense beard, long straight hair a la Brian Jones and a dark druid like tunic, which completes the SOOL’s captain's uniform. This mysticism is clearly present in their music, in every reference to the late 60’s psychedelic pop, which they transform to their whims creating a fresh sound and achieving to break free of the worn out “retro rock” label.

Eleven years passed since Ebbot and guitar player Ian Person founded TSOOL, after dissolving the incendiary Stooges-like punk band Union Carbide Productions, which during it’s short existence (’87-’91) gained such fans as Sonic Youth, and once received a postcard from Kurt Cobain. Nowadays Lundberg became something of an international cult figure in alternative rock circles and people such as Noel Gallagher from Oasis heralded TSOOL as being one of the greatest rock acts around.

TSOOL performances are clearly not only about music. Up on stage, Ebbot reminds me of some sort of preacher but, as he says, “it’s up to anyone to think whatever. I think the healing process of music is very important. That’s maybe why people like to think of me as a preacher. Because there is clearly a message hidden in our music”.