A WAY FORWARD
DIGITAL LINER NOTES
A peek behind the tunes of Jaerv & The OK Factor’s new album, A Way Forward.
FIND A WAY FORWARD
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FIND A WAY FORWARD
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FIND A WAY FORWARD
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FIND A WAY FORWARD
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FIND A WAY FORWARD
FIND A WAY FORWARD ✳︎ FIND A WAY FORWARD ✳︎ FIND A WAY FORWARD ✳︎ FIND A WAY FORWARD ✳︎ FIND A WAY FORWARD
© 2026
The nearly ten years of collaboration between our two bands has seen tunes crafted in rehearsal spaces, living rooms, and sound checks, between cups of coffee and Swedish fika. This album is an homage to the new folk music tradition of composition, honoring what has come before and pushing it into the future, framing the old and new in ways that feel uniquely ours to share.
There are endless perspectives and possibilities in the world of folk music. Even with an ocean between us, we are buoyed by the joy that comes from following our instruments and hearts and continually creating together: a way forward.
lily’s polska
An ode to cellist Olivia Diercks’ daughter, Lily, this new polska sets a tone for the album that paints a sonic portrait of pure love — for folk music, the music of the people, and the music that brings us back to our people.
composed by Olivia Diercks, 2025
KRUSPOLSKAN
is a set of two slängpolskas from southern Sweden, near where the members of Jaerv make their homes. The music drives forward with a playful intensity and lyrics in Swedish that herald a teasing warning: I will not coax you, even though you are sweet and pretty. If you don't say yes I might go and find someone else.
after Gotthard Sjöman, trad. Öland; after Anders Fredrik Andersson, trad. Småland
AMSWEDE JAM
“AmSwede Jam” has history — it’s been waiting in the personal collection of Harald Nilsson’s compositions for the right moment: a pre-soundcheck impromptu jam session at the American Swedish Institute in 2023. A party from the first note, it feels like those sweet moments of greeting dear friends after a long time apart.
composed by Harald Nilsson
Polska från Orsa
This traditional 1700s tune drags us willingly back to the baroque period, a dramatic juxtaposition of intricate percussion and simplicity in form that brings a breath of fresh air between the pulsing orchestrations on either side.
after Jonny Soling, trad. Dalarna
Nocturne
From the composer, Tobias Hedlund:
I wanted to write a song with lyrics that addressed something urgent. The melody came quickly, but the lyrics were harder, as that doesn't come naturally to me. So, I asked my friend Sofia Kunze if she could write lyrics for my melody based on the following premise:
"We live in times that are perhaps more divided and polarized than ever. Conflicts between superpowers and nations, conflicts within countries, conflicts between men and women, conflicts between the young and the old, conflicts within individuals. The list goes on...
So, what is the cure? Could it be that we need to find our way back to love and grace? Both toward one another and toward ourselves? To stop looking for microaggressions and hidden motives? To stop dividing people into 'us' and 'them'? To start living with gratitude for the small things in life?"
And I think Sofia succeeded brilliantly. Here is the result, translated into English:
When play has quieted in our mind
When sunbeams fade to grey and cold
When hatred leaves our memory blind
And heartbeats cease to seek the fold
When no one seems to find the way
To one who was a friend before
The spring still ripples on its way
An evening song forevermoreTime is flying
Slipping through a human hand
No one winning
Battles in a burning land
Sunbeams shining
Reflect their light through one again
Who seeks to love the one who is no friendThe black river of danger's tide
The black rain of a bitter fight
They wished to stay here by our side
To own all space and take the night
Yet the spring of quiet love flows on
To comfort in a world so tight
And softly answers in the dawn
With an evening song of lightREAL WORLD
An intentional choice for the album, the supergroup’s rendition of American singer-songwriter and musician Anaïs Mitchell’s “Real World” is a further nod to the album title; finding your way forward in the world is unique to all of us. For Jaerv & The OK Factor, it’s the feeling of instruments under fingers, energy in the same room, meals shared — bringing their full, real, human selves to the collaboration and leaving it all on the table.
© Anaïs Mitchell; Shelly Bay Music o/b/o Treleven Music
POLSKA FRÅN OLSKROKEN
A mirror of modern life, this new polska is named for the endless, busy traffic in Olskroken, a neighborhood in Gothenburg, Sweden.
composed by Harald Nilsson
K’S POLSKA
Written as an exploration of writing a Swedish uneven polska by American violinist Karla Peters, this tune feels more like a standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the crashing waves of the wild Atlantic than the exercise that inspired it.
composed by Karla Peters
DULUTH
The album finishes with a tune that you can’t help but smile at. If you hear the bands play live, you’ll likely leave with Swedish flautist Joel Hagen’s tune spinning around in your head, thinking about your next trip to Duluth, MN for the chicken and waffles at the top of the city’s spinning restaurant, Harbor 360 (“Duluth”), a favorite memory of the supergroup.
composed by Joel Hagen
