Fou De Toi

It’s hard to keep up with an ever increasing stream of new Swedish music to my inbox. I’m trying to find ways to be more efficient, and one way is to present releases in a post like this, as a collection of releases, so I thought that I should try it out and see how it works. I hope you like it. Well, here’s a collection of new singles, and it came out with a pop theme as well.

Fou De Toi – “Fall Out”

The pop chorus masters Fou De Toi was contacted in the beginning of this year by the producer Ronald Blood (Shout Out Louds, Mando Diao et. al.). Apparently he had seen them live and liked what he heard. They had a meeting, decided to collaborate and then during a weekend in April they reunited in Ronald’s studio to work with some Fou De Toi songs. This song, “Fall Out” is a first result of this session, and if I read between the lines you’ll probably get to hear more songs soon.

Fou De Toi’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

Cajsa Siik – “The Fix”

“The Fix” is Cajsa Siik’s first single since the album debut “Plastic House” last year. It’s also the first peek at her upcoming album, an album which currently goes under the project name “Contra”. “The Fix is a conversation I had once with myself about escapism as a way of freedom”, Cajsa writes about the song.

Cajsa Siiks site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

Skuggväsen – “Kärleksdöden”

Behind this melodramatic song title “Kärleksdöden” (“The death of love”) we find a band that call themselves Skuggväsen. Well, I don’t really know if it’s a band as the info is quite scarce. It’s a synth pop song in Swedish and besides the electronic background and the nice synth lines there’s also a vibe of classic Swedish pop.

Skuggväsen on Tumblr – on Soundcloud

I Don’t Speak French – “Let It Go”

Recently I wrote about I Don’t Speak French’s debut single “We Are the People“. This week they released the follow-up “Let It Go” where they continue to explore their a bit unique indie sound with falsetto vocals, smooth bass lines and a bit restrained but groovy arrangement. I like the feeling of unpredictability in their songs, of where the song is going next.

I Don’t Speak French on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

Today This Is Head released another single, “Repetition”, from their album “The Album ID”. And this time it’s something quite different and extra interesting they serve us. As it turns out the original song contains multiple shapes which are now revealed.

They write that if you listen carefully you can distinguish several ideas within the song, seemingly incompatible with each other. For one you can hear that the song has a rock drive which could be developed further, there is also a streak of dance rhythms throughout the song and finally there’s the ambient part, the chirping of birds as they describe it. For this release they picked these three elements out of the song and let them form three new songs, and added also the original song of course. A fascinating and fun single idea. Listen to all four versions here below where they’ve labeled the different versions as radio (rock), slow (ambient) and dance and then the original last. You can also watch a video to the radio version, where they clearly show what repetition means if you’re standing by the pool side. :)

This Is Head’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

We could listen to a collaboration between Fredrik Jonassson and Jenny Gabrielsson Mare earlier this year on Silencio Stampa’s latest album “Kalejdoskop“, where they made a song together. They liked the result so much, that they felt like they wanted to do something more than just a song. The duo project White Birches was then created, an indie electronic constellation where Jenny handles the vocals, the guitars and the piano while Fredrik takes care of the electronica. Their plan is to give us a taste now and then with some songs, and later in Spring to release a debut EP. Here’s the first creation “The End of the Line”, a very promising start indeed, with a dark, suggestive pop and a beautiful chorus melody.

White Birches on Facebook – on Soundcloud

Now it’s time to chill, and we do that with the young Stockholm duo Alchem’s debut EP “Gleam”. Here you can dive into five tracks where each one explores a new sound space. Here’s one one of them.

Alchem on Facebook – on Bandcamp

We’ve met Alexander Eldefors here before in the psychadelia-sounding The Seed Coat. Yellus is another project of his and moves in the land of electronica mainly, either through the pleasant, instrumental “A Place On The Other Side Of The Mountains” here below or the electro pop track “Move with You” which I’ve also added.

Yellus on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara – on Soundcloud