Sportsman

Sportsman was the nom de plume of Swede Per Magnusson, formerly of Stockholm soul-pop quintet <a href="spotify:artist:3NsOIPgPxTANBZ7ydej6v5">the Sonnets</a>. Following the band's grueling 2010 world tour, he decided to take some time out for reflection and traveled to East Africa. After visiting Tanzania, he ended up on a beach in Kenya overlooking the Indian Ocean, where he had an epiphany: he wanted to make music that sounded like the scenery he was looking at. He found a pack of cigarettes in the sand bearing the brand name "Sportsman," and his solo project was born. Upon returning to Sweden, he left <a href="spotify:artist:3NsOIPgPxTANBZ7ydej6v5">the Sonnets</a>, teamed up with production duo Montauk (who had remixed the band), and began to demo songs. His 2013 debut single "Rally" retained the '80s influences that had driven <a href="spotify:artist:3NsOIPgPxTANBZ7ydej6v5">the Sonnets</a>, but sidestepped the band's new romantic and blue-eyed soul obsession for a more contemporary feel. Lush, ethereal, faintly melancholy ambient pop, it featured vocals from his girlfriend Linnea Jönsson, formerly of indie pop darlings <a href="spotify:artist:5JTKRNH8lzbZcSvOqZSehS">Those Dancing Days</a>. An EP, Usher, followed, and another single, "Begin Again," was released the following year. Magnusson took his time crafting his debut album, Neverland, which did not appear until mid-2017. Released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Best+Fit+Recordings%22">Best Fit Recordings</a> and described by him as "a final farewell to my childhood," it was heralded by the beautiful single "Running on a Beach," the most fully realized distillation of his distinctive sound that he had produced up to that date. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi