Abstract Crimewave Collaborated with Chrissie Hynde on ‘Stockholm,’ Then She Returned Years Later for “The Longest Night”

A past artistic collaboration has come full circle for bandmates Björn Yttling and Joakim Åhlund. Ten years ago, Chrissie Hynde released her first solo album Stockholm. She teamed up with up the young duo, then known as Smile but who would be rechristened as Abstract Crimewave after the Radiohead side project The Smile arrived in 2020. Yttling co-wrote most of Stockholm with Hynde, and Åhlund co-wrote two songs with her. The duo co-produced the collection and played on it as well—Yttling on multiple instruments, Åhlund providing guitar and backing vocals. It was a positive experience for everyone involved.

All these years laters, the Crimewave duo finally wrote a song they thought would be perfect for Hynde, and she agreed to sing on it.

Finding The Right Fit

“We always had her on the list of someone to ask to feature on a song,” Yttling tells American Songwriter. “It’s not a long list. And this song felt both musically and lyrically like a great fit for her. The lyrics definitely sound more like her and The Pretenders when she is singing them compared to when we were singing our emotion-less, Swedish monotonous style on the demo.”

The title track to Abstract Crimewave’s third and newest album, “The Longest Night” is dreamy, psychedelic-tinged rock that entices the ears and lingers in the brain. The lyrics themselves cross over different topical terrain. As Åhlund explains, “Partly it’s about a love that’s run its course, that unsettling feeling that it’s time to move on, but it’s still not without feelings of remorse or sorrow. And then, of course, it’s also about the season of fall in a broader perspective. And also about feeling that the past is still always with us somehow like a ghost you see in the corner of your eye.”

Separately, Åhlund and Yttling have written for and produced or co-produced for a number of well-known artists. Åhlund, who also played in the band Teddybears, has credits that include Charli XCX, Cheryl Cole, and Iggy Pop. Yttling is also a member of the band Peter Bjorn and John, and his credits include work with Neko Case, Franz Ferdinand, and Lykke Li (who appears on the new Abstract Crimewave song “The Gambler”).

Long-Distance Collaboration

Looking back to when the twosome first teamed up with Hynde on Stockholm, Yttling recalls, “She was looking for a collab when making her first solo album. If I remember correctly, I met her first in Ohio for coffee when I was on tour with Peter Bjorn and John. We must have clicked because after that she traveled to Stockholm nine or 10 times to write music with me and Joakim. She has always been nice and kind to us.”

Yttling says he and Åhlund thought of bringing her in on one of their songs, “but we never had the song.” Ironically, when the opportune moment arose for Hynde to sing for them, they could not be there in person. But it still worked out well in the end.

“Since I was in the U.S. with [Swedish singer] Lykke Li and Jocke was hitchhiking in Croatia, we couldn’t be with her as she recorded in London,” Yttling says. “It didn’t take long, I think, and she did a couple takes, which were quite different but all of them were really magical.”

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Photo of “The Longest Night” album cover via Facebook