Mattias Alkberg

The artist and poet Mattias Alkberg often performs a kind of balancing act on the edge of ruin, both on a personal and societal level. In doing so, he takes on a dual stance: he welcomes catastrophe but does so with a stubborn resistance. He never gives in when it comes to giving up one more time.

With over three decades in the service of music, Mattias Alkberg is one of Sweden’s most uncompromising and distinctive voices. As a poet, punk, pop craftsman, and rock icon, he has consistently moved in the borderland between the brutally honest and the unexpectedly beautiful—often in the same breath.

Mattias Alkberg was born in 1969 in Boden and currently lives in Luleå. He was the singer and guitarist in The Bear Quartet, who made their recording debut in 1992—the same year his first poetry collection, Separerade ägg (Separated Eggs), was published. In recent years, he is best known for his solo albums, his poetry, and as the frontman of the punk band Södra Sverige.

Over the years, Alkberg has released more than 30 albums, both as a solo artist and with various bands. He has also created a number of stage productions: Alla är sämst (Everyone Is the Worst) in 2018, Om känslor och sånt skit (About Feelings and That Kind of Crap) in 2019, and Mattias Alkbergs Begravning (Mattias Alkberg’s Funeral) at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 2013, which also became a concert film broadcast by SVT.