Although perhaps best known for his work as bassist in Swedish Prog Metal act Pain Of Salvation, it is now several years ago that Kristoffer Gildenlöw (younger brother of Daniel, whom started that band in 1993) left Sweden for Holland, where he's been living with his wife Liselotte Hegt (a journalist for Dutch renowned music magazine Aardschok, and apparently also musician on the bass and keyboards) from 2006 on, and been active as session musician (in several bands, including ) and the band Dial (which he'd started with Hegt and guitarist Rommert van der Meer in 2003 as a hobby project).
After leaving PoS in early 2006, Dial became a more serious thing, and during Summer of that same year the band went off to Austria to record their debut album with producer Devon Graves (of Deadsoul Tribe and Psychotic Waltz fame). Synchronized was subsequently released through US label Prog Rock Records in May 2007. Perhaps not known to any people, is the little fact that at the same time as when he joined PoS in 1994, Kristoffer was also active in Arcana (a Swedish act with musical similarities to Dead Can Dance in its beginning years); contributing to that band's first releases, the 1995 demo And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth, and debut album Dark Age Of Reason (released through specialist label Cold Meat Industry in 1996). During his tenure with PoS, Kristoffer also contributed to Cirrha Niva's 2001 album Liaison De La Morte, and Lana Lane's 2005 Lady Macbeth and 2006 live album 10th Anniversary Concert. Session work after he left PoS came with an initial boost, German act Dark Suns employing his services as bassist on their 2008 album Grave Human Genuine, “cross-over Rock” act Skytah had him play bass on their second album Breathe that same year, and he was also a guest on Swedish Progressive Power Metal act Harmony's 2008 album Chapter II: Aftermath. Then came an apparently “slower” time, until Pagan Folk act Omnia had him playing double bass on 4 tracks (as well as some cello on one of 'em) on their 2010 album Wolf Love. In 2011 however, Kristoffer's session activities increased again, with contributions to Epysode's Obsessions, Consortium Project's V Species, For All We Know's self-titled album, and The Shadow Theory's Behind The Black Veil.
Kristoffer had already been working on this debut solo album of his for a long time, wanting to show his more fragile, melancholic and occasionally dark or soft soothing sides...and in fact the album was already released in 2012 on a 500 copy limited vinyl rotation (with a different track-list). To get the album done, he called in the help from several befriended musicians, including Fredrik Hermansson (of Pain Of Salvation) and Ola Heden (of The Flowerkings & Neal Morse T2 Band) on keyboards, Paul Coenradie (Robby Valentine) and Ruud Jolie (of Within Temptation/ For All We Know) on guitar, Jeroen Molenaar (of Do, Desray, and session work) n drums, as well as Ben Mathot (Ayreon, Neal Morse T2 Band) on violin and one Maartje Broekman on cello. On top, there's several additional singers (including people from Ayreon/ For All We Know, Omnia, and Neal Morse Band), some of which are featured on the album in choir. Kristoffer's own voice is a very nicely warm and steady one, and someone reminiscent of his brother's. To say that overall, this is a rather calm album, is no exaggeration...in fact, only in the title track do we get a reference to Kristoffer's PoS days. Funny track too, as it's actually part spoken word, and a nice display of human behavior (K asks some older lady what would be the one thing she'd do different, if she could get back in time...and she starts out be saying that there's not a whole lot she can think of...and then starts going a series of things she would've done different – I mean, that's só “human”, isn't it? You give a hand, and they start pulling out your arms, figuratively speaking).
At (www.) kristoffergildenlow.com, you'll find a possibility to listen to samples of all songs on the album (first click on the link under the “Rust” heading, then scroll down the album's page for the link). Of course, it's possible that you'll find full-length tracks at (www.) myspace.com/kristoffergildenlow (but I cannot confirm nor deny, as I am unable to access with the network PC I use for my fact-finding needs). At the artist's facebook page, you'll find a series of older videos to compare styles!