Mattis Mallinen started My Heart Is a Metronome as a solo project, as a reult of “too much side-material after x number of years in various bands”. It all ended up in a trio, though, as Gustaf Simonsson and Felix Carlsten joined the project later on. The EP “Sketches” was recorded in February in an old cottage in Hälsingland, in the middle of the hard Winter and deep snow, refreshing themselves with kaffekask (Swedish coffee-drink with strong additives) and red wine.
The EP was released seven months later, containing 5 great songs, acoustic with a vibe of American alternative rock and some folk, and with Mattis strong vocals in the front. Have a taste of the EP with the song “Remnants”:
Victoria Moralez is a new acquaintance for me. She has released the albums “Days and Seasons” and “Translucent” before and as a build-up for the next album she has released two EP:s, the latest one the four-track EP “Game of Fear”.
She moves effortlessly between styles from song to song and mixes influences within the songs, and it’s hard to catch her with a few words. The EP has a retro feeling with seventies-guitars, soul and funk, which she blends with jazz vibes and a sensation of what you could call world music. The last mentioned is especially obvious in the last song “Divide Me In Two”, a spoken word-song accompanied with a banjo in a language I can’t understand. Multifaceted, personal, interesting and if you add the earlier R’nB-fragrant EP “For Eternity” I can imagine that the upcoming album will show us more hues of Victoria.
In the beginning of last yearwe wrote about Stone Carpet and their single “The Sound of a Thousand”. Now they’re back with an ambitious project, with the plan to release 4 EP:s during this year. On each EP they explore one of the different genres which have influenced them during the years.
First out in May was the three-track EP “Exordium”, where they set out for a more progressive direction. The song here below, “The Plan”, comes from this EP. In July the second EP “Narratio” was released; an EP that focus more on metal.
A fun project, and I’m quite curious about what the upcoming EP:s will be about, especially since it’s so well executed in these two first EP:s. You can listen to their music on Spotify and follow the band on Facebook.
The trio We Could Build an Empire released their debut album in the end of last year. I listened at first to the three songs they have available on their Bandcamp page, and the alternative rock, melodic “Ice”, which you’ll find here below, quickly caught my attention. It wasn’t until I listened to the entire album, though, that their music started to really impress me.
Here I found a band that wasn’t just about piling up melodic alternative rock songs, but more about a band that wanted to do their own thing in the borderland between nineties-inspired alternative rock and progressive rock with hints of metal. It’s quite a varied album which manages to continuously surprise me with it’s twists and turns. I found myself get caught up with the riff-grinding “Dogs”, which breaks off after “Ice”, and drawn into the suggestive “The Power” after which the melodic “Fall Free” takes off. A real album and an impressive one.
Selsius, hailing from Göteborg, present themselves as an arena rock band with influences from post rock as well as pop. In May they released the single “Now Here . Nowhere” with two songs, which was a first taste of the upcoming EP with the same name. The EP was supposed to be released on May 30th, but obviously there is a delay of some kind.
The title track is a song with a beautiful build-up with vibes of Sigur Rós, that ends with a powerful instrumental crescendo, while the second track “I Walk With You” comes with arena rock in the direction of U2. A grand sound and made for the arenas.
From before they have released the album “Selsius” (2010), which is available on Spotify and you can download “I Walk With You” on their Soundcloud page. Follow the band on Facebook.
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