Peacebird is the first album by Peacebird, a pseudonym of Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 singer and songwriter J. C. Schütz

J. C. Schütz

Johan Christher Schütz is a Swedish singer, musician and songwriter. Since 2010 he uses the pseudonym Peacebird, thus advocating pacifism, direct democracy, social equality and human rights....

. Schütz has previously released three albums in his own name. First released in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 by independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 Motel Bleu on October 5, 2011, with a pre-release on iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 Japan on the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

' International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, occurs annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to peace, and specifically the absence of war, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. It is observed by many nations, political groups, military...

, September 21.

All songs are written, arranged and produced by J. C. Schütz, and the album has a wide range of influences, mainly 1970's soul, funk, pop and acoustic British folk. Schütz relaxed vocal style with jazzy phrasing and love for syncopations creates a tension, as most songs on the album are uptempo, such as the first track Slow Down which in deed is not a slow song at all.

The album was recorded in Sweden, Japan and Brazil with musicians such as Japanese bass player Reiji Okii, Brazilian drummer Di Stéffano, Swedish horn players Andreas Andersson (alto and soprano saxophones) and Karin Hammar (trombone), and some songs including groove by Glenn Fransson (bass) and Jocke Sandén (drums). Japanese guitar player Yoshinari Nakamatsu is also participating in two songs, and the backing vocals are sung by Swedish jazz singer Lovisa Lindkvist and Japanese soul singer Chihiro Fujita. Schütz plays all other instruments on the album, including guitar, piano, keyboards, cavaquinho

Cavaquinho

The cavaquinho is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. It is also called machimbo, machim, machete , manchete or marchete, braguinha or braguinho, or cavaco.The most common tuning is D-G-B-D ; other tunings include D-A-B-E...

, and also utilized loops and programmings in all songs in varying degrees.

A music video for the jazzy Pickin' Up The Pieces was published on youtube along with the pre-release on iTunes Japan, showing extreme close-ups of Schütz' face with a crystal-clear image, working well with the song's melancholic theme of farewell.

The CD version of the album includes a download code for a free bonus track called Happy Birthday, an original song by Schütz written and recorded at the same time as the rest of the songs.

The song Let The Sunlight In was originally written by Schütz for Japanese singer Toki Asako

Toki Asako

Asako Toki is a Japanese singer and composer, born in 1976. She is the daughter of a Japanese jazz saxophone player, and she was the singer for the pop band Cymbals between 1997-2003. She often sings covers, such as Beatles' "All you need is love", or songs written especially for her, such as "Let...

, who released it on her 2008 album Touch.

During every day of the first week of the release, Slow Down was one of the three most played songs on Japanese FM radio stations in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 and Kansai

Kansai

The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, and Shiga. Depending on who makes the distinction, Fukui, Tokushima and even Tottori Prefecture are also included...

 metropolitan regions

Metropolitan area

The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...

, and two of these days the most played song of all.

Track listing

1. "Slow Down"
2. "Baby Just Relax"
3. "Anything For You"
4. "Pickin' Up The Pieces"
5. "Let The Sunlight In"
6. "A Little Bit More Real"
7. "Don't Bring It Up"
8. "I Love You"
9. "After The Rain"