From The Desk Of Nathan Larson And Nina Persson: Analog Stuff We Used On “Colonia”

“We’re going to party like it’s 1699,” sings Nina Persson on Colonia, the second album the Cardigans frontwoman has released under the A Camp name with husband Nathan Larson (Shudder To Think) and Niclas Frisk. As the lyric and album title imply, the ornate Colonia is loosely based on the theme of love in the time of colonialism and is inspired by cabaret and musicals from the ’40s. Larson and Persson—king and queen of Colonia—are guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with them.

Nathan And Nina: Like all chefs, we don’t give away all our secrets, but we will tell you that we have big love for old analog synthesizers and effects. There’s nothing too special about loving the analog (as opposed to digital) stuff. We just wanted to share with you some of our favorites, and those without which our latest record, Colonia, would not have its flavor. Because despite the acoustic, orchestrated nature of the music, there’s plenty of gnarly electronic stuff going on in there, too. Here’s some classics that we couldn’t be without:

Roland Juno 60
For arpeggios. You can hear it loud and clear on “Bear On The Beach,” “Stronger Than Jesus” and “Love Has Left The Room.”

Roland SH 101
For sub-bass, it’s the best. Heard on “Here Are Many Wild Animals,” “The Weed Had Got There First,” “It’s Not Easy Being Human Anymore” and “I Signed The Line.”

Arp Solina String Ensemble
Pretty much on everything, especially “Chinatown,” “Golden Teeth And Silver Medals,” “The Crowning” and “My America.” It’s the Dreamweaver!

Casio SK-1
Priceless. Heard most prominently at the beginning of “Chinatown.”

Electro Harmonix Memoryman
We mixed a lot of stuff through this mutha.

Roland Space Echo
Nothing sounds like this thing. Lee “Scratch” Perry knows that. This is used just about everywhere as well, but it’s most evident on the breakdown of “Stronger Than Jesus”—that dubby kind of slapback.

Fulltone Tube-Tape Echo
The only newly manufactured, non-vintage thing on this list, but we can’t say enough about this thing. Expensive and worth it. It’s on Nina’s voice almost all the time and frequently on the guitars (especially “Chinatown”).

Sequential Circuits Prophet 5
Pads and textures, especially on “Golden Teeth And Silver Medals.”