Swedish Band Lingua Call it Quits

Trebuchet's interview with Lingua in November 2010 teased some lucid quotes from guitarist Misha Sedini, amongst them this psalm to the merits of self-motivation:

On our first record, we leaned back and thought that everything would work out for us, having landed a deal and all. People would work FOR us now. Obviously that failed. It took some time to realize that it wasn't anyone else’s job but our own. If we wanted it to happen, we had to be the hardest working apples in that whole damn bunch.

And as long as hard work provides results, it's never a problem. When the returns diminish though, the frustration can be deadly. Lingua announce a cessation of activities today, via a heartfelt press release, quoted below:

dear members of the world who make out the few percentage of it that is our listeners,
when we started this band it's main purpose was to be musical therapy for the four of us involved. within the walls of our rehearsal space we could do anything, and we did all that our minds could come up with. maybe not the most original stuff ever to come out of a band, but it was heartfelt and at the top of our performance. that was all we needed and all we ever wanted.

during the ten year life span of this band we made eight demos and three cd's (including the alter egos come sleep and rövfitta) and we are glad we've had the chance to make and record so much music. we haven't travelled far or often, but some of the gigs we've done have been amazing and journeys on stage. music is a very onesided relationship. you take, music gives. if music doesn't give, you listen to something else. when you are done with music, you sell it and buy new music.

unless music keeps giving, then things stay the same until it doesn't. now, treat people like that and they will leave you. thankfully, music makes you feel but it doesn't feel. we like to talk about music as our lover, but we treat it like a whore. it sounds harsh, but it's the truth. so what's the point to all this ranting?

we like to talk about music as our lover, but we treat it like a whore

well, two months ago, misha decided to leave the band. music wasn't giving any more. the muse that had been lingua inspired no new material and was giving no theraputic value. in fact, he felt like he didn't need that kind of therapy anymore. anyone who listenes to the lyrics off the last album can clearly hear the direction things were going. we worked so hard making "all my rivals..", drained ourselves from ideas and threw everything we had in it. little did we know we were working on our swan song. but it became very clear to us as a year progressed after its release and we stood without new ideas, energy or inspiration.

lingua had been drained and there was nothing we could do to bring it back to life again. when misha anounced his departure, all these issues surfaced and it stood clear that the band in fact had been dead for a long time. we just didn't want to se it. we had a great run, ten fucking years! but everything ends, and lingua (with all its alter egos) ends here. so what now? thomas, anders and patrik has decided to keep playing music, but under a different name and with all new material.

there was never any doubt not to bring in more people and keep lingua alive. lingua is a collective and it has four members. without any single one of us out, lingua is not. simple as that. misha has decided to leave music alone for a while in hope to find new inspiration. meanwhile he's going back to school in order to educate himself as school was one of his imaginary ghosts as a young man. but whatever we do musically, we promise you that we will keep you updated so you can follow us, if you feel it's hard to let go.

but we can't leave without a grand finale, right? so first off we will finish what we've started, which is a new rövfitta demo. expect 13 tracks of hard hitting and utterly stupid thrash punk in swedish. we've also decided to upload everything we've ever done with lingua that isn't bound to legal restraints to our reverbnation site.

all our demos, some from the albums, some rehearsals, pre-recordings from 2007 and a few live takes as well. it will all be up there in a little while (or a long while), we'll let you know when it's time. and after that, it's goodbye!