“The sorrow lives on. Nothing has changed”, the duo Dödens Dal write, adding that they are releasing new music this week, the song “Ögat i nacken”. The track is tacken from their upcoming album “Korsa Jord, Luft, Is”, scheduled for release in February. It’s their second album in a trilogy, which was started earlier this year with “Gå Ensam Förbi Horisonten“.

Dödens dal på Tumblr – på Spotify – på Wimp

Stefan Klaverdal from Malmö is a composer and sound artist, who primarily works with comtemporary classical music, a genre that can be hard to define. This is more than obvious when you listen to Stefan’s works which ranges from classical pieces for choirs and orchestras to electronic sound experiments to genre crossing music and a lot of other endeavours. “Revelations” is a fascinating album he released in 2010, where he collaborates with other musicians, performing two of his suites: “The Sacred Family” and “Revelation Pieces”.

“The Sacred Family” consists of three parts and is performed by the string quartet Tippet Quartet and Stefan with his electronic effects, beats and pads, united in a most natural way. He was originally inspired, which the name implies, by Gaudi’s amazing unfinished construction La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. When he started composing, his wife had a serious illness, which of course made his work with the music stop from time to time, as he had to take care of his wife and his one-year old daughter. His wife eventually recovered and it took him three years to finish the composition, and by then the music contained another meaning as a celebration to being alive and being together and also a reflection of this near-death process they went through, which you can strongly sense when you listen. Interestingly the cathedral La Sagrada Familila has three sides, named Nativity, Passion and Glory, which is also the name of the three parts. You can listen to the first part here below: “Façade Of The Nativity”.
The second half of the album, which is no less fascinating, “Revelation Pieces” is inspired by scenes from The Book of Revelation. Here the electronica is more in focus, and consists of three parts, independent of each other, and paint four different images.

Stefan Klaverdal’s site – on Spotify – on Wimp

Here’s another band who’s returning after a longer period of absence. It’s KallocaiN, hailing from Norrköping, who’s announcing a new album in Spring with the release of this single with the songs Birds and the Bees” and “Walls”. They surprise me a bit with “Birds and the Bees”, a seemingly languishing, classic rock ballad with echoes from the eighties, but which they still turn into their own indie-sounding atmosphere.

KallocaiN’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

It’s been three years since Case Conrad released the debut album “Dew Point“, which is of course far too long to wait for the next one. Gustav Haggren and co have been touring frequently around the world since then, though, and while touring collected material for the new album “Leikko”, which was released in October. I was really looking forward to hearing new music from the band, and I wasn’t disappointed; it’s quite an enjoyable collection of songs they have created.

I recognise the Americana-sounding pop, but now in a bigger sound costume, softer and even more dreamy. Strings and horns join in on some arrangements and new is also that Gustav sometimes hands over the lead vocals microphone to Per Henrik Adolfsson. A couple months ago we got a sneak preview in the shape of the song “Lonelylightlylowshine“. Here’s two more excellent tracks from the record:

Case Conrad’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara – on Bandcamp

In Spring I told you about Karin Ström’s project with songs about cities that have a special meaning for her. She continued releasing songs from the project this Autumn, the latest one “Montreal”, a warm song about her father and her relation to him. I just had to include the last single also, the beautiful “Stockholm”, which was released in September .

Karin Ström’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara – on Soundcloud

Montreal
Stockholm

I våras berättade jag om Karin Ströms projekt med låtar om städer som har haft en speciell betydelse för henne. Under hösten har hon fortsatt projektet, nu senast med den nya singeln “Montreal”, en varm låt som handlar om hennes pappa och deras relation. Kan inte låta bli att ta med den förra singeln också, den vackra “Stockholm”, som kom ut tidigare under hösten.

Karin Ströms hemsida – på Facebook – på Spotify – på Wimp – på Rara – på Soundcloud

Montreal
Stockholm