Niklas Sibelius used his nick name from high school, when he named his solo project: Varjen (The Wolf). It’s about Americana and indie folk where he mentions The Tallest Man On Earth, The Cave Singers as Frank Turner as influences. Especially Frank Turner comes to mind as I listen to the recently released debut EP “Hardland”, which is maybe most obvious in the last song, “Hardland”, where he almost feels punky in his expression. The room feeling in the sound also makes me think about folk from the eighties and albums like  Springsteens “Nebraska”, where I also find more common vibes in for example the beautiful “Shoreline Weeks”, which you can listen to here below.

In any case it’s a strong and interesting debut which you can listen to on Varjen’s site and on Spotify. Follow Varjen on Facebook.

Shoreline Weeks

Jonas Carping’s The Glade released a year ago the EP “Dance For Love”. And a little while ago they rereleased the title track again as a so called “Radio Edit”. I think that it feels more than a standard radio edit, though; it’s a whole new mix where the song has received the attention it needed. There’s a much stronger presence now and the entire song shines. An example of a song that sounded good, but with a better production has become great.

You can follow The Glade on Facebook and on their blog. On Spotify and on Wimp you can find this and more songs from the band.

Dance For Love (radio edit)

Crying Day Care Choir charmed us a couple of years ago with their folk pop tune “July”. Now they are back with the debut EP in the same musical spirit, the acoustic flower power-vibing “Join the Joyful Revolution”.

And the message is clear: they want to make the world a better place through flowers and love. They also contribute in a more direct way by giving all the profits from the digital release to Yoko Ono’s peace organization Imagine Peace.

About the band name Jack from the band writes:

In the beginning it was meant to refer to how it sounds when children cries uncontrollably in a group. If you ignore the hysteria, they can, in the middle of the sobbing, hit common tones and it sounds like magic.
Then after a while we found that the name also can relate to our purpose with the band; our wish and quest for a better world. Because if you have a “Crying Day”, who doesn’t need a “Care Choir” then? It feels applicable to the world’s situation too :)

You can listen to the EP and contribute on Bandcamp. You can also find them on Spotify and on Facebook.

Join the Joyful Revolution

The circle of friends in the band Mutual Friends has now grown to 6 members and on the new album “A Day In a Jar” they show us what they can accomplis together. If you listened to the earlier album “The Cabin”, which I wrote about before, you will recognize the Americana-vibing style, where the new members add to the arrangements with new instruments. First of all it’s the violin that gives a beautiful, melancholic folk feeling to the songs. Their best album so far I think.

You can listen to their music on Spotify and on Wimp. Follow the band on their site and on Facebook.

The War Is Over
A Day In a Jar

Leo August is an artist who recently released a two-track single, produced by Johan Forsman in Göteborg. It’s two songs soaked with vibes from the seventies and folk inspired pop. I liked the first track best, “Lady Overseas” with the strong chorus and choirs. Listen for yourself here below.

You can liste to both songs and follow Leo August on his site.

Lady Overseas