[engl] Born in Iraq but raised in Sweden, Prince of Assyria stands with one foot in Baghdad and one foot in Scandinavian melancholy. As a Mesopotamian royalty sentenced to diaspora in an Astrid Lindgren saga, he builds longing bridges between East and West that have touched a dedicated fanbase far beyond Sweden’s borders. Teasing, spooky, grinding, fateful and swarmy, sometimes stripped like Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen, sometimes dramatic and theatrical as Tindersticks or Lambchop, sometimes with obvious but usually only hinted references to his Assyrian origins. And then that golden voice of his. Prince of Assyria enchants his audience whether he performs at Café De La Danse in Paris, Lido in Berlin or Bar Loose in Helsinki. His debut record Missing Note from 2009 made him a favourite among the critics with his acoustic songs full of bittersweet sadness about lost love, desperation and threatening madness. On the sequel Changing Places in 2014 Prince of Assyria’s multifaceted explorations continued, now with a broader emotional register and warmer production. After six years of silence he is finally back with his album 3rd Level released in September on Busy Bee Production on vinyl, CD and streaming services. Here Prince of Assyria dives deep right into the magic world of the 60’s and takes his songwriting and production to a whole new level. Playing almost all the instru- ments by himself the songs have been recorded and re-recorded over and over to catch the turmoil of the past years. Death, illness, breakups, homelessness – the songs on 3rd Level have gone through almost as much as Prince of Assyria himself. There were times when he never thought he would be capable of putting it all together but here we are at last with an outstanding record of intricate patterns soon to be uncovered to the world. Prince of Assyria’s music cannot be captured – after three superb albums it’s fair to say that he sounds like no other, just like himself. All other comparisons are superfluous.