Ghost got in touch. They needed choral singers. Jakob Grubbström, Director Musices at Linköping University, explains how it happened:
“I received a text message from the producer, Vincent Pontare. I googled the name because I didn’t know who it was. He wrote that he needed a choir for the recording with Ghost. He sort of assumed I knew who they were. So I googled again. It seemed serious. Or… I immediately understood that we don’t want to miss this!”
World famous band from Linköping
Ghost have their roots in Linköping and have enjoyed great success worldwide with their hard rock sound. In 2016, the band was awarded a Grammy. And in May 2025, their latest album went straight to the top of the US Billboard 200 album chart. The last time this happened to a Swedish band was in 1993, with Ace of Base.
For Jakob Grubbström, it was a matter of picking out some of the singers in the choirs for the recordings in the historic Atlantis studio in Stockholm. The choral singers were to record a 55 second piece. In a large number of variations. This then became an intro to the album's first song, "Peacefield".
Understood immediately
“The singers understood the enormity immediately, unlike me. Some of them are dedicated fans and were both touched and excited about this opportunity. It feels extra special that Linköping University Male Voice Choir and the Linköping University Women’s Choir Linnea are involved, since Ghost comes from here,” says Jakob Grubbström.
Emilia Hildebrand, first soprano in the Linköping University Women’s Choir Linnea, has the following to say:
“Totally sick and great, great fun! To be on a recording and it ending up so good. It was absolutely magical. The choral singing fits very well with Ghosts' sounds, with some classical tones and a church-like sound.”
"Epic to start it off"
“I almost didn’t believe it when I heard that the album was number one on the Billboard chart! The album turned out really well and it was epic to start it off!”
Kristoffer Brander, bottom bass in the Linköping University Male Voice Choir, feels fortunate.
“It feels great that we were so lucky to get to be a part of it. Just a few hours after the song was released, all our names were available on the Reddit web forum.
They had practised a little in advance.
“We were given a kind of demo, a backing track in the foreground, that we could follow. It was like blurred contours of the music,” says Jakob Grubbström.
Abba, Quincy Jones, Elvis Costello, Max Martin and a number of famous artists have recorded music at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm.
“It was cool to be there. An important place in music history. You could smell the history. But there was a lot of work. We were there for a whole day. And the longest break wasn’t much more than 20 minutes. Plenty of time to sing for 55 seconds several times over!
Did you get a lot of instructions about how to sing?
“Ghost’s frontman, Tobias Forge, was there and gave detailed instructions on his vision for the song. They were very professional, but Tobias was the one who coached us the most. There were quite detailed and small adjustments. For instance, that we should sing louder. Or with lighter or darker timbre. And then all the altos, sopranos, tenors and basses by themselves,” says Jacob Grubbström.
Would you consider including Ghost in your repertoire?
“It’s certainly conceivable, even though of course there’s the question of rights to music and so on.”
Does this mean you’ve started listening to Ghost?
“Haha… no. I rarely listen to music that way. Music is my job. I try to do other things when I’m at home, even if it doesn’t always turn out that way. I like to enjoy the silence.”
