Dustin Tebbutt Tells Us His Favourite Things About Sweden
It’s been almost two years since Dustin Tebbutt broke onto the scene with his debut EP The Breach, which saw the singer-songwriter spending a couple of years living and working in Sweden leading up to its release.
Tebbutt is now back on the scene, having just released a mini-album Home, themed around his return to Australia. Appropriately enough, all writing, recording, editing and producing has been done at Dustin’s home and the soft crooner has already released two singles from the mini-album – the title-track ‘Home’ and ‘Silk’ which features fellow triple j sweetheart Thelma Plum.
Thanks to the time he spent embracing the very best of nordic culture, we thought it best to ask Dustin to share his five favourite spots in Sweden.
#1 Skansen
Skansen is an open-air museum and zoo in Sweden, and is located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm. The museum was created to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era and features relocated and restored buildings from all over Scandinavia. The buildings were shipped piece by piece to the site. The zoo is pretty cool too, and although I was lucky enough to catch glimpses of reindeer and moose in the wild on my travels, I’d never seen a bear before… beautiful creatures. It’s a pretty incredible day out, and now I can understand how exciting it must be for people to come to Australia and see a kangaroo.
#2 ‘Nordlings Antik’ 86 Skånegatan/Södermalm
The south island in the city of Stockholm is a super trendy area. It’s full of incredible op shops, lots of record stores, cool cafes bars, venues, and an all-round creative energy. I lived there in a small unit for the last six months or so of my time there, and loved it. The first time I visited this antique store Nordlings Antik, I found some some really old recording gear that I just couldn’t resist. It’s definitely worth checking out.
#3 The train to Örebro
This shot was taken from the train on the way over to Örebro in central Sweden where some friends were studying. I don’t know the exact spot, as it’s really a sea of green out there, but it was a dreamy trip.
#4 Dalarö
When I first got to Sweden I was lucky enough to stay with a group of friends in a weekend house out on the archipelago in a place called Dalarö. We set up camp here for the first three months while we were looking for jobs in the city. It was over the summer, and the sun would set as late as 11pm, and then a few hours later it would come up again at around 1am. This place became a bit of a haven for me for the rest of my stay; it was so picturesque. It’s surrounded by thick forests on one side and the dotted islands that became the Baltic Sea on the other. About 15 minutes walk from the house was the harbour, and around the way a little was this tiny island. This spot changed so much over the seasons going from an inviting picnic spot in summer to a solemn reflective spot during autumn, to an eerie and desolate gatekeeper in the middle of winter when the ice and snow completely covered the bridge itself and most of the rock too.
#5 Västerbron/Långholmen
I used to ride everywhere in Stockholm, and Västerbron (which literally means ‘The Western Bridge’) was my way into the city. The view from here is stunning, as you can see, with the Old Town and city on one side and the parks and gardens of Långholmen on the other. The latter used to be a prison island, and was also originally all rock. The inmates covered the island with dredged mud from the surrounding waterways and eventually transformed much of the island into lush gardens. Crazy hey! It’s now a perfect spot for a walk or having a few drinks and a game of soccer in summer.
(Images: Jesse Whistler)
Dustin Tebbutt’s brand new mini-album Home is available today from his website. Dustin is smack-bang in the middle of an Aussie tour which will see him play Sydney’s Factory Theatre on September 25, The Zoo in Brisbane on October 2 and The Rosemount in Perth on October 10. For more details head here.
