Antonia Vai is a singer/songwriter from Stockholm who’s working now on her first full length album. But there are a bunch of  songs to listen to already now; songs recorded mainly by herself and which she publish on her pages in a steady stream.

The influences seem to come from a number of sources, but the most obvious vibe is a dramatic feeling in many songs in the direction of Björk, without exactly sounding like Björk. Mix that with a lot of soul vibes, closer to Erykah Badu, as Antonia describes it herself. I also sense inspiration from folk music; from the latin world, from the US, and some song from the Swedish mellow folk tradition.

You can listen to the songs on her site or on her Facebook page. She also has a frequently updated Youtube channel. Here are two songs:

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite
Russian Roulette

Everett Parker is Daniel Börjesson’s solo project he started in 2006. He tells about the name that the project’s name from the start was Writers Edge, mainly because he then only had his lyrics and had just started to play the guitar. He got tired of that name and changed to Everett Parker. Everett he got from George Clooney’s character in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou”, and Parker, well, it sounded good together with the first name.

“Run For the Uppercut” is the name of his debut EP and was released about a month ago. On the surface it’s about americana and somewhere close the spirit of Dylan inevitably shows itself. A closer look reveals four songs of different character, all with Everett’s somewhat raspy voice that breathes authenticity into the well-written lyrics. I’m close to the sixties in the naked production but in a song like “Truck Light Search” I sense that I get closer to contemporary  singer/songwriters like Damien Rice in the mellow feeling.

Listen more on Spotify or on Soundcloud. You can find Everett Parker on his site and on Facebook.

Central Station

Support the artist: Buy “Run For the Uppercut” – on Itunes – on Amazon

The duo Musicemia, consisting of Daniel Renström and Goran Sajinovic, has a somewhat different setup with acoustic guitar and accordion. They describe their music as folk/rock/lo-fi influenced by Pearl Jam, Beirut and Yann Tiersen which feels like a very fitting description of how they sound.

With a nice voice from Daniel Renström they produce a quite pleasant melancholy, a melancholy with ingredients from various sources in folk music. I hear British islands, french cafés, some americana and on occasion a breath from the Balkans.

They have recently released their second EP “Light and Sound” which you can listen to on their Bandcamp page or on Spotify. Follow Musicemia on Facebook.

I Am

According to Elliot, Projekt Elliot is a lo-fi effort with Swedish (from Skåne) lyrics and expression. Recently he released the three-track EP “Del 1: Äventyr i Lo Fi” (“Part 1: Adventures in Lo Fi”).

I wouldn’t really call it lof-fi when it comes to the sound; what he’s referring to is the simplicity of it all, as it’s all about Elliot and his acoustic guitar, no more no less. And that’s good enough for me.

It’s calm and low-voiced, but still it becomes charged in the somewhat mellow ambience. He sings about going your own way, about not reaching the destination, about being a human, and he does so in a humble way which makes it feel human and personal. Maybe like a celebration to the small person in all of us.

You can listen and download the songs on Projekt Elliot’s Bandcamp page and they’re also available on Spotify.

Dom som aldrig kommer fram

Fluru means tousled hair in the the folk dialect in Jämtland, Sweden. The music from the 9 person strong band Fluru doesn’t feel that tousled though, but I can sense some ambience from Jämtland. Not that it sounds like folk music, but from the melancholy and the fatefulness that fit well with the picture I have of the big landscapes in the north of Sweden.

Another association, which is enhanced by the cello, the accordion, the walz tempo and the harmonies, is that to Leonard Cohen, who also has been an inpiration for the singer and songwriter of the band, Malin Edblad.

There is an EP out with the band which I recommend you to listen to and it’s available on Fluru’s site. You can also find the band on Facebook. Here are two songs from the EP:

Black Umbrella
My Only Friend