Frihet, which means “freedom” in Norwegian. This is the name of the twelfth full-length album by the popular Chinaski. The musicians around singer Michal Malátný recorded it on the shores of the Norwegian Sea, in a stylish wooden studio near Ålesund. The production was handled by Brit Greg Haver, the man behind the previous successful albums Rockfield and Nie nám do cry. According to the musicians themselves, this is the first purely band recording. Each member has at least two songs on it. Jiří Suchý also appears as a guest on the record, while Green Day and U2 collaborator Chris Lord-Alge is behind the mixing. The release is announced by the radio single I Should Take My Shoes Off.
“The album was born during the cover, when we met secretly in our homes. Thirty songs were gradually created, from which we selected the best thirteen. Compared to the last record, there was a major shift in the band. Our new bandmates have lost unnecessary respect for us. I think that now everything has just clicked,” Michal Malátný is not hiding his excitement about the new release.
Producer Greg Haver convinced the musicians to try recording in Norway. In the end, the band locked themselves in for twelve days and worked twenty hours a day. “Every night we were figuring out what the name of the record should be. We stuck papers on the wall with all sorts of suggestions that came to mind. One of them was the title of the new song “Solitude is Freedom” in Czech and Norwegian. And because we felt the twelve days of creative freedom so strongly, we cut two words and we were left with Frihet,” explains the singer, whose favourite song from the new record is Smůla. “It’s a slow song with a piano. Years ago I was making a film called Catch the Doctor and its now-deceased director Martin Dolensky sent me the lyrics. I recently found it on the desktop of an old computer. And the show spoke to me. I rewrote it a little bit, and that’s how I came up with perhaps the most beautiful song on the record,” he says.
Jiří Suchý, who wrote the lyrics to The End of a Certain Rambousek for the band and ends up scatting on the track, is also a special guest of Frihet. “I’ve been coaxing him for at least two years. We’re very happy that it worked out and I’m looking forward to playing the song live,” Malátný says, adding that Chinaski plan to return to the small clubs where they started. In early October, they will start a nine-concert tour with an autograph session. The first stop is planned for 1 October in Trebic, and the tour will end on 18 and 19 October in Prague. Pre-sale of the tour is available on TicketLIVE.
Visitors to the launch will be the first to get their hands on the Frihet album. The clubs will open for them at 5:30 p.m., the autograph session will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. A concert will follow, featuring all 13 songs from the new album as well as other hits by the band.
Frihet’s album will be released digitally on all streaming platforms on September 30, physically available at the album launch and in brick-and-mortar stores from October 19.
Current Tour
1/10/2022 TREBIC CLUB ROXY
4/10/2022 BRNO FLÉDA
5/10/2022 BRNO FLÉDA
7/10/2022 HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ PETROF GALLERY
8/10/2022 OLOMOUC S-CLUB
10/10/2022 MLADÁ BOLESLAV ŠKODA MUZEUM
13/10/2022 PLZEŇ DEPOT 2015
15/10/2022 OSTRAVA GARAGE
18/10/2022 PRAGUE LUCERNA MUSIC BAR
19/10/2022 PRAGUE LUCERNA MUSIC BAR
