“Those folk influences appear on the very first (self-titled) album from 1975, but it was just in small pieces,” Lundin explains. “On the last three albums I really tried to incorporate it more in the music in a natural way, and not just having a short song with folk influences. I try to make the vocal melodies have that folk feeling even if you don’t recognize it. You might think a track is just an ‘ordinary’ song, but if you listen closely to the melodies you can hear the typical Swedish folk sound.”
Kaipa was founded in 1973. During the 1970s, the band performed throughout Scandinavia, singing in Swedish. After Kaipa dissolved in 1982, the group gained an international following. Some of its former members joined other well known Swedish progressive rock acts, including The Flower Kings, Karmakanic and Scar Symmetry.
Although Kaipa broke up in 1982, the band returned in 2002 with the Notes from The Past album.
“There were a lot of happy people out there when we decided to release the Notes from the Past album in 2002,” says Lundin, “because we had a 20 year break and nobody was really expecting the band to return.”
“It doesn’t matter what we do, we’ll always be placed in progressive rock,” says Lundin. “When I’m writing songs I actually try to avoid a traditional way of writing and playing progressive rock, but at the same time those elements are a part of me and my history. So, I hope the result is something new and fresh. Of course, the special influence of Swedish folk music helps accomplish that, and I think it grows with every Kaipa album.”