And here’s my best wishes for a warm and relaxing Christmas holiday. Taste some new Christmas songs.

Mankku [Mancko] – “Brustna hjärtan på annandag jul”

A Treehouse Wait – “Make the Gates All Wide”

L.E.J – “Game of Bells”

Finnegan’s Hell – “Drunken Christmas”

Femme – “2016 (Cry Cry Cry)”

When Bosse Nilsson has some time over from leading the Landskrona-based record label Melody, producing other artists or playing with the band Prebens Pågar he heads out on his own under the name Nilson. His next album is scheduled for release in Spring and this Autumn he has released a couple singles as a first taste, the title track “Blessed” and “A Lullaby”. It’s a harmonic artist we meet who has settled in a low keyed and laidback mood in these soft rock ballads that come with plenty of country vibes.  Taste the two songs here below.

Nilson’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

For his next album Thomas Weibenfalk wanted a more open and a closer sound than on the last album, also this time in collaboration with the producer Andreas Dahlbäck. And when he lets us taste the record on the new single I can sense it immediately. It’s less “Vassa eggen” and more live vibes, and one reason is that it indeed is recorded live in the studio, with Jens Frithiof on guitars and Surjo Benigh on bass, among others, with no unnecessary adds, as he writes. His presence is perfect and the sound pure candy for someone who likes singer/songwriter-rock in Swedish. It’s a growing track with an increasing dramatic ambience which ends with an instrumental crescendo where we can revel in wonderful, chrunchy guitar layers and whining guitars that send shivers down my spine.

I asked Thomas to tell us something about the song:

“The song ”Nu är vi här” speaks, to a large extent, to the people I got to know, and who became some the best friends in my life, during my time in Skåne and Lund. We had great fun together and a small group of people formed that hopefully will stick together all life. At least on distance.
As you get older you get a job, start a family and move out to other parts of the country and you don’t see each other that often anymore. I think many recognize that. We also live in a world of violence, egoism and despair which I’m also trying to reflect in the song and on the entire album. We easily get stuck in our own stress behind screens och cell phones, forgetting what really means something: the people around us.” (transl. from Swedish)

Producer: Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck
Music, lyrics, vocals and guitars: Thomas Weibenfalk
Guitars: Jens Frithiof
Bass: Surjo Benigh
Keys: Mikaela Hansson and Joel Sjödin
Drums, vocals: Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck
Sound engineer: Frida Claeson Johansson

Weibenfalk on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

I’m almost hypnotised by Lilou’s vocals. Her dark alto voice breathes of blackness, mystique and rock attitude, like a magical music incantation I just have to listen to again and again. Together with her husband she form the duo Lilou & John, who earlier this Autumn released the debut EP “100 Faces”.

Here we hear them in five tracks that spans from epic folk songs to alternative rock and indiepop, all wrapped in an unpolished sound that perfectly matches Lilou’s charsima. Each song also has a corresponding music video created by different video artists from USA and Brazil. You can watch an example here below in the video to the song “When Murder Victims Die”, a video created by Patrick Paax. The other videos are available on their Youtube channel.

Lilou & Johns site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

About “He Broke My Neck, Joséphine”: “…inspired by a vivid dream that came to Lilou one night. The ghost child Elizabeth shared with her the last days of her life, and in the dream Lilou felt the brutality when the father of Elizabeth’s love Joséphine broke her neck. It happened somewhere at the end of the 19th century or beginning of the 20th not far from the city of Jönköping.“

About “100 Faces”: “About our instinct to always hide our true self, maybe further emphasized by the alienating effect of the modern society of consumption and our emotional difficulties.” (transl. from Swedish)

About “When Murder Victims Die”: “…tells the story of the post-traumatic experiences of a child surviving a brutal serial killer. The lyrics was highly influenced by Motörhead and Lilou decided at an early stage that she would sing the song in a weird, tim-burtonesque way, balancing on the edge of quirky disharmony.“

The Norwegian band Wild Fauna has created a sweet, messy sound on their debut single “Crooked Smile”. It’s raw, full of crunchy garage guitars and feels liberatingly simple and energic in the powerpop-vibing chorus. The 90’s seem close when I’m thinking about refererences and I’m not surprised when I see that they mention Dinosaur Jr. and The Posies among the influences. The song is the first taste of their debut album, which is due for release soon.

Wild Fauna on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music