Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side’s 2022 album, Miles From Nowhere, burst onto the prog scene and made a lot of “Best of” lists. They are about to release the follow-up, Time Frames, and it does not disappoint. Lindberg was kind enough to take a few minutes and chat with me via Zoom.

Hi Jonas, thanks for taking the time to talk with me about your new album. Miles from Nowhere was my favorite album of 2022, and I am liking Time Frames just as much. Was the recording process for Time Frames the same as for Miles From Nowhere?

Pretty much – the recording process is the same, which means I do a full production demo, and then remove the drums. So Jonathan [Lundberg] records the drums, and he sends them to me, and I record almost everything, and then I go around and record vocals and lead guitars with the others.

So, the difference this time is that I actually have a studio to work in! I actually have recorded this one entirely in the studio. With Miles From Nowhere, most of my overdubs were recorded in my living room. So that’s the difference!

Well, Miles From Nowhere still sounds good, for being recorded in your living room!

Yes, it’s about where to put the mikes, and to understand that the room sounds weird.

I came of age in the ’70s, and I loved artists like Todd Rundgren, Boston, and Styx, and I’m hearing a lot of that style of rock in your music. Am I off-base with that?

Probably not. I haven’t listened to a lot of that, really. My influences are more – in the progressive genre – more Spock’s Beard. But they have probably listened to those bands, you know. I got that question earlier – it’s like it’s a new generation of influences. Of course, Pink Floyd has always been a big influence for me.

Yes, I can definitely hear early Spock’s Beard in your music. 

So, what are some of the lyrical topics in Time Frames?

Well, I tend to write about things that have happened to me. If I don’t have a clear idea what I want to write about, I take something that is evident or around me at the time. Some of the lyrics ended up being about parenting, you know, or my daughter, because I was on parental leave when I wrote the lyrics. A lot of the lyrics come from thoughts or things that happened during that time. So that might be a kind of overarching topic. But then you also have something like “Galactic Velvet”, for example, that’s completely different – it’s about space! [Chuckle]

I’m glad you brought that up; that’s one of my favorite songs. I love Jenny Storm’s singing on that. 

Yeah, she’s awesome. She’s really easy to work with, and she’s also incredibly fast at getting the right takes. For example, she sings a part in “The Wind” – the epic – her performance there was done in three takes.

What other musicians besides Jenny are on the new album?

Well, mostly friends of mine from university days. Jonas [Sundqvist], who is the other lead vocalist, we’ve known each other going back twenty years ago. We’re always writing music together, and we hang out together. We found each other through a Sting project that he had, doing Sting covers. And we went to school with Nicklas Thelin, who plays guitars; we went to the same classes at university. There’s Jonathan on drums, who I got to know better when I moved down to Stockholm and we ended up playing in a few different projects. Around the same period I met Calle [Schönning], the other guitar player who plays most of the lead guitar on the album. He’s just an incredible guitar player. Everything he plays, you know, everything is great! And then, also of course, my brother, [Joel Lindberg] plays guitar on a couple of songs. And my girlfriend Maria Olsson plays percussion.

Do you guys have any plans to tour?

I hope so, but it’s hard to tour, because I don’t really have a booking agent to make that happen. So I’m kind of doing everything myself! Right now, I’m more focusing on releasing the album, and then I’m planning on doing at least one or a couple of release concerts, somewhere in Sweden some time next year – I’m aiming for springtime. Then we’ll have to take it from there and see what happens. – how the album is received, you know.

Maybe you could do a pay-per-view streaming concert, or something like that.

Yeah, some kind of live film I’ve had in my head. Just an idea, but I haven’t anything set in stone – I’m just sketching at this point.

What are you listening to right now, besides your own music?

Right now, I’m in a little Steven Wilson period. I’ve been listening back through his catalog. When I was mixing this album, The Overview came out. And, being a fan of Pink Floyd, I was like, “Oh! Yes! That’s perfect for me.” Then I started going back, and I found all these albums that I had never listened to. That’s what I’ve been doing, mostly.

I’ve been a Steven Wilson fan since his Porcupine Tree days. I think my favorite solo album of his is his first, Insurgentes.

I haven’t gotten that far back yet!

Anything else you’d like to share, Jonas?

Go check out the album at my website, and I hope you like it!

Many thanks to Jonas for taking the time to talk with me, and we wish him lots of success with this new album – it’s really good! If you love progressive rock with a classic rock feel, you will not be disappointed with Time Frames. It is already one of my favorite albums of the year.

Jonas Lindberg and the Other Side’s official website is:  www.lindbergmusic.com/shop

Here’s the video for the single “Faces Of Stone”: