With a new single from Fräulein Und Alsander just out, I caught up with the man behind the name, Mattias Alsander, to find out about his songwriting journey, where we find him making music today and where it all might lead.
Can we begin with a bit of background? What musical journey has brought you to where you are today?
My musical journey isn’t really much to talk about. I’ve played guitar and written songs since I was around 15. When computers made their entrance in the 1990s, I tried, with limited success, to make music on an old Amiga 500. Through the 2000s, I kept writing songs, and when DAWs started to appear, it felt a bit revolutionary.
It gave me possibilities I hadn’t had before, and I made quite a lot of instrumental music. Some of it is on Spotify under the artist name Velvet Cherry. But I’m not a musician; I’m a lyricist. Neither my voice nor my guitar strumming is good enough to stand on its own. My lyrics need musical help, and that’s where AI came in, at the beginning of 2026.
Am I right in thinking this single blends human playing and technology? Can you explain how you put the music together?
Like all my songs, ‘Kom hit och gör mig lycklig’ is written by me. I write the lyrics, hum a melody, set the chords on either guitar or piano and record it in my DAW. Then I upload it and let AI take care of all the instruments and the vocals, based on style and sound prompts that I set. My singer and instrumentalist is an AI persona that I’ve chosen to call Fräulein. It’s Fräulein who makes it sound like music that’s good enough to listen to. I don’t take credit for the end result other than the lyrics, the chords and a hummed melody. Fräulein’s voice is based on a real person, but since she wants to stay anonymous, I describe her as an AI persona.
There is an interesting contradiction between the breezy title of your latest single and the song’s brooding, anthemic nature. For non-Swedish speakers (like myself), can you explain what the song is about?
The song is about two types of people. On one side, the person who makes it their life’s mission to take care of the flighty, vulnerable and always absent person they love. On the other, that flighty, vulnerable and always absent person who never stays. In the song, the vulnerable and always absent person is compared to a butterfly. It started out more as chamber pop, but over the last few years I’ve got more and more into indie, grunge and lo-fi, so it has ended up with a different sound from the one it had at the start. The song was written in 2015.
Who would you say are your inspirations, both musically and also in the wider world?
Many. The Swedish singer-songwriter, rock and pop tradition, with names like Ola Magnell, Joakim Thåström, Plura, Ulf Lundell, Kajsa Grytt, Dan Hylander and Peter LeMarc, are among those who “taught” me to write lyrics. Of them, I think I’m closest to Thåström in expression. Internationally, there’s no getting away from the fact that Bob Dylan has had, and still has, a big influence, along with Leonard Cohen, Pearl Jam, Lana Del Rey, Tom Waits and others. There are many who have inspired and influenced me.
Given how the music was created, do you ever see a time when you could take it live, or are you happy to keep it as a studio project?
In the best of all worlds, my music gets picked up by the traditional industry. Someone with influence says, “Damn, this is good,” and we check with the songwriter whether we can do something together. From there, I’m open to stepping back and letting professional musicians make music out of my lyrics and melodies, release them, play them live, and get rich and famous.
Until that happens (which it won’t), I’ll keep sitting at home writing lyrics, chords and melodies, asking AI and Fräulein for help to make it sound listenable, and keep releasing albums on Spotify. Right now there’s one album out. The second one comes out on 12 October this year, and there will probably be another one at the end of the year. There’s a lot I can’t do, but the one thing I absolutely can’t do is stop writing songs.
Thanks for taking the time to show me around your musical world.
Discover more from Dancing About Architecture
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
