the album ydre
January 21, 2026
Blending minimalist piano, ambient textures, and Nordic storytelling.
Swedish composer and pianist Magnus John Anderson presents Ydre, his third album. The album was recorded in Berlin and Stockholm and mixed in both stereo and Dolby Atmos.
Like a kaleidoscope of returning memories, Magnus drifts back through time and space to the places and landscapes of his childhood. Back to Ydre in Östergötland, Sweden. A region of rolling forests, shimmering lakes, and quiet open spaces. A place where nature’s stillness holds both beauty and depth.
Within this kaleidoscope there is room for nostalgia and softened recollections, but also for sorrow. The grief of lost family members, of time passed, and the powerful joy and happiness that once filled those days. Growing older means looking back, but also awakening to the realities of the present.
– Ydre is music to dwell in rather than pass through, just as the landscape of Ydre is for me. A place to stop and experience, rather than simply move by, says Magnus.
Here, strong melodic themes meet a gentle touch at the piano, accompanied by strings, electroacoustic textures, and other keyboard instruments from an extensive personal collection. The result is a musical journey rooted in Nordic storytelling.
Focus track: Halide grain
The album opens with Halide grain, an inviting, thematic piano piece in shifting time signatures, surrounded by ambient soundscapes. The title refers to silver halide, the microscopic grains that capture light in photography.
Like old childhood photographs from Ydre, the music moves between sharpness and haze. A simple, almost reverent melody glides over subtle echoes, as if memories are slowly coming into view. It grows from a single note into a wider space, then quietly fades away.
– I think of memories like photography. You can never make the image completely sharp again, but you can still feel it within the music. The pieces on the album are interconnected. Together, they shape a map of geography, history, and emotion, says Magnus.
About Magnus John Anderson
Magnus John Anderson is a Swedish composer, pianist, producer, and acoustician based in Stockholm and Berlin. His music combines neo-classical piano, ambient layers, and electroacoustic design, with melody at its core.
Anderson began his career at Benny Andersson’s studio on the island of Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden. As a producer and engineer, he has for more than twenty years worked with international artists such as Céline Dion, Britney Spears, Clay Aiken, and Westlife, reaching fourth place on the Billboard charts in the United States.
During the creation of Ydre, he collaborated with several musicians, including Strumming an A, Jan Strand, and Annika Blomfeldt.
Previous releases include the albums Bleaching and The benefits of daydreaming, as well as numerous singles and reworks.
His works have accumulated millions of streams globally and have been featured on major editorial playlists on:
Apple Music · Spotify · Amazon Music · Deezer · Pandora · YouTube Music
The music has been broadcast internationally on:
WDR 5 (Germany) · Classic FM (UK) · ABC Classic (Australia) · NRK Klassisk (Norway) · Yle Radio 1 (Finland) · Antena 2 (Portugal) · HLQL EBS FM (South Korea) · neoFM (Berlin) · NPO Radio 4 (Netherlands)
the Benefits of daydreaming
March 10, 2023
Ambient piano sounds from the heart of Berlin
In the past, daydreams were considered a sign of laziness, but new research shows that they are beneficial for the brain. Daydreaming makes you more creative, smarter and makes you feel good. The benefits of daydreaming are also the theme of Berlin- and Stockholm-based Magnus John Anderson's second album, where neoclassical piano sounds are colored with cello and ambient soundscapes.
"The Benefits of Daydreaming" is mainly recorded in Magnus John Anderson's studio in old East Berlin and released by van Drumpt, sister company to Imperial Recordings and Dumont Dumont, which releases José Gonzales and Ry X, among others.
The album is a sequel to the debut “Bleaching “which came in 2021 and has slowly but surely reached a steadily growing international audience, not least on Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, and iTunes. Even some of the singles that are on “The Benefits of Daydreaming”, among others the track "Arkona", have for example been no. 5 on German radio (Westdeutscher Rundfunk 5) and no. 9 on Canadian iTunes.
- This album takes the turns both musically and sonically. It contains cello, just like the previous one, but also more electronic and atmospheric elements that create their own little worlds when you listen, much like when you daydream, says Magnus John Anderson.
Magnus has a background as a sound engineer, acoustician, composer, and musician and began his career at Benny Anderson's studio on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. After recording, mixing, and writing songs for other artists for over twenty years, he made the transition to a solo career as a neoclassical pianist.
Magnus John Anderson divides his time between Stockholm and Berlin, where he previously lived and worked full-time.
Neoclassical debut with French melancholy
January 20, 2021
Stockholm-Berlin-based Magnus John Andersson has been active in the music industry since the 1990s. He has collaborated with several successful artists including Clay Aiken, Super Junior and Rola. Now he is emerging from the studio as an artist in his own right with a debut neoclassical piano album.
'BLEACHING' features nine tracks and will be released on May 14th 2021 via record label Van Drumpt. In addition to Magnus on piano, the album also features solo cellist Annika Blomfeldt. A first taste will be released this January in the form of debut single 'ELKHORN'.
Magnus describes his debut as a form of homecoming after having helped several others to reach success over the course of many years. The road back has taken him through the role of recording technician and mixer for Benny Andersson at Mono Music Studio on Skeppsholmen (Stockholm) for artists such as Celine Dion, Westlife, Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, to name but a few.
He has secured top chart positions in Japan (Pokemon 15), the USA (Clay Aiken), and on the World Album Chart (Super Junior); he has worked on film soundtracks (Songs from the Second Floor and As it Is in Heaven); and he has been the technician and mixer on a Grammy-winning album (Folk Music in Swedish with Åsa Jinder).
In 2011, he moved to the Mitte neighbourhood in Berlin to pursue a dream project – building his own studio comprised entirely of analogue keyboard instruments. He worked on film and advertising music at the same time. Today, he commutes between the German capital and Stockholm where he also works as an acoustician.
"As a twenty-year-old, I wrote a great many piano pieces and composed music for string quarters and choirs, but I never quite took that step to becoming an artist myself. Instead, I wrote music for others. Thanks to my wife and Berlin, that dream has been awoken in me once more and I have now returned to my roots," says Magnus John Anderson who is inspired by other pianists such as Nils Frahm and Dustin O’Halloran who both work and perform in Berlin.
As an artist in his own right, he has turned his back on the pursuit of chart toppers and instead given himself over to stripped-back and melodic piano music with a light touch of French melancholy.
"I have previously written music which is more bombastic; this is going to be the polar opposite – rather minimalistic compositions. I hope that other people will enjoy and appreciate them," he says.
About the album BLEACHINg
Each track on the album has a connection to corals. The music reflects the beautiful yet fragile nature of coral reefs. A quarter of all marine life finds its home in our planet’s coral reefs. According to the WWF, almost two million species live in or around coral reefs and rely on them to survive. We are losing coral reefs in large parts of the world as a result of global warming and climate change. Coral bleaching is a process whereby corals lose their colour and die from high temperatures.
