Since Natural History came out we’ve had quite a few questions about the the vocals on some of the tracks. So we thought it might be a good idea to introduce you to the singers we sometimes work with when we need vocal work doing.

In Part 1 we introduced you to Rochelle Parker, and in Part 2 to Kameel.

This time round say hello to Swedish vocalist, Jonatan Backelie AKA Ernesto

We linked up with Ernesto when we were both signed to Exceptional Records. He provided vocals for ‘All Over Again’ which appeared on our last album, ‘Black Water’, and which was remixed by Sabre, Kubiks and Tom Middleton (appearing on his massive 2009 album ‘One More Tune’),

Ernesto also provided the original vocal line for ‘Anytime Soon’, a version which was never released but that he performed live…

(no idea why that video is sideways-on, sorry…)

More on Ernesto from the Exceptional site…

Ernesto is 24 year old soulful singer and music maker Jonatan Bäckelie from Gothenburg, now based in Birmingham.

Ernesto has toured Europe and Japan with Compost Records nu jazz/broken beat pioneers Beanfield, been seen collaborating with Swell Session (Freerange Records) and in action with Plej (pronounced ‘play’) from whose debut album Electronic Music from the Swedish Left Coast (exceptional) has been has been an underground word-of-mouth smash in European electronica circles. Plej’s music featuring Ernesto’s vocals has also been heard on the prime time TV series Six Feet Under and on Jaguar car commercials in the US.

Not content with this hectic schedule, Ernesto has also been busily working away in his own studio, and has now completed a most extraordinary and unexpected album. Presented to Exceptional Records as a finished album, Jonatan had previously hinted at its contents only by saying it was something he had been working on in between his many other projects. The album has turned out to be a jaw-dropping, genre-bending world away from the Beanfield/Plej/Swell Session musical axis. “A New Blues” is a journey into a 21st century melting pot, where the main ingredient was unpredictably blues but mixed with a measure of electronica and a good pinch of songwriting finesse.

Ernesto’s background has been a tour across musical boundaries. Brought up by a travelling preacher father, church music was his first port of call. In fifth grade, rave music got into his soul – but it was the subsequent discovery of break beat and techno which was to be the defining moment and dominant influence on his music . Eighth grade brought with it a synthesiser and a computer fast enough to serve as a music machine. Then came college, a graduation to jazz and the arrival of the new household god of Chet Baker. Some time later, a new sampler arrived and a studio started to take shape. Then he was led astray by his girlfriend, Mimi, who communed with the Latin rhythms of Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto and Elis Regina. And then came the blues….

Ernesto’s ground-breaking album A New Blues is just that, a 10 track introduction to a new way of recording and performing an infectious and highly contemporary form of blues… A new blues made by a daringly eclectic, boundary-defying young music maker who prefers to record his music without a net.