Hird

Hird was the alias of Christoffer Berg, a keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist from Gothenburg, Sweden, who was only 21 when his lone album Moving On came out in 2004 on Stockholm's Dealers of Nordic Music, the label behind the Nordic Lounge compilations. His sound is warm, modal-jazz-flavored downtempo and light house. Singer Yukimi Nagano, a school friend from Gothenburg, was already known from Koop's Waltz for Koop and went on to front Little Dragon, the Grammy-nominated band that appeared on two tracks on Gorillaz's Plastic Beach, both co-written by Nagano; 'Keep You Kimi' is the vocal version of 'Keep You Hird', which Berg built from an idea he first had at around 15. Berg retired the Hird name in 2007 and became a sought-after studio hand: he mixed The Knife's Deep Cuts, worked closely with Fever Ray, and was hired as full-time programmer on Depeche Mode's Delta Machine (2013). He has also produced house and techno under the Mountain Range alias, and Nagano released her debut solo album, For You, as Yukimi in 2025.

From the notes for Episode 04 · fact-checked Sep 23, 2026.