Missa is an artist and a producer who released her debut EP “Genesis” a little more than a week ago. It consists of four pop tracks which give me quite some vibes from the eigthies, where she with meandering melodies dives into grand, dreamy choruses wrapped in shimmering synth pads. Listen to two of the songs here below.

Missa on Facebook – on Spotify

Here’s an excellent single from the Oakland band Catholic Radio. They fool us a bit with the band name, since the music has very little to do with religion. Recently they released the single “Rain Is Done”, which is taken from the album “The Last Summer, Vol. 2”, launched earlier this year. They start out with a laidback, dreamy indie rock which lands in a “Dark Side of the Moon”-sounding chorus and then opens up in an atmospheric soundscape with shimmering layers of guitars. Beautiful, different and with a quite pleasant sound full of retro vibes. If you like dreamy, melodic indie rock with progressive tendencies I recommend you to check out both of their “The Last Summer”-albums they released this year.

Catholic Radio on Facebook – on Spotify – on Bandcamp

I have a premiere for you today as well. The producer and songwriter Joakim Persson has created the project Sagan om Alltings Förträfflighet and is releasing the 18 minute long piece “6 år” today. If you follow this blog you have heard Joakim before in the bands Tiny Union and  Century Of Ecstasy, but this is something completely different, and I recommend you to read the background story below before you listen.

This “instrumental lofi-monster with elements of poetry”, as he describes it, was created after he had browsed through 10 year old notes from a very dark period of his life. He continues:

“I was tired of everything and I decided to give myself 6 years to sort out my life and my feelings. During that time I scribbled down cryptic fragments of texts in my notebook. The music is an interpretation of the various phases of depression and in the end the idea of the 6 year period gets a bit blurred, and you can sense that the mist finally disperse and disappears.
The song also comes with an instruction of how to experience it: in solitude, standing by a window. Then the music becomes a dystopic soundtrack to everyday phenomenons and twist them into something very disturbing.”
(transl. from Swedish)

This is hardly some easy listening, but a fascinating and naked characterization of something hard and difficult in the lives of many people. Earlier this year Joakim released a debut album under the same project name, with songs of a totally different character, and next year he’s planning to release an electronic pop album, he says.

Site – på Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

Today I have the honour to host the premiere of a new song. It’s the duo KALK who are releasing their debut single “Hold Tight” today. The duo consists of Julia Simonson and Freja Drakenberg, who in November subsequently will release their debut EP.

I immediately fell for this song. On the surface it’s a catchy pop track with an interesting and a bit different chorus. But there are more elements in the song that caught me: the sweeping synth pads that drift back and forth like a warm breeze in the song, and the lightness in a rather percussion-heavy track, but which still feels effortless. They write about the meaning of the song:

“Hold Tight deals with the dilemma of making a choice with either your heart or your brain, and how that dilemma can drive you crazy. Hold Tight is about making the easy choice before the right choice, ignoring about what’s really the best for you.”
(transl. from Swedish)

KALK on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

Before the summer Pica Pica released the wonderful single “Lift Me Up“. Now they have launched the follow-up “Where Did The Summer Go”, a duet where Jonas Jonsson (aka Bedroom Eyes) joins Ida Segersten on vocals. This time they have added some more energy in a track that, after a mood-setting start, explodes in shimmering synth arpeggios and a beat that almost pushes us out onto the disco floor. Here’s both a dose of drama and a nice, melancholic ambience containing a title phrase that lingers in the air after the song has finished.

Pica Picas site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music