Suuns

Despite the wonderful start of the festival on Thursday, it felt like it started for real on Friday. More artists, a lot more people moving around, the press room full of writers and photographers and overall a more excited and engaged atmosphere. Add to that a fantastic festival weather; sunny with just the right temperature and pleasant, cooling breezes. We tried to keep up with all things we had planned for, but just as I thought our schedule was a little too optimistic, though. Here are a few of those artists we watched:

Jonathan Wilson played at the “folk scene” Odeon, which fit his 60/70’s-influenced folk/blues-rock perfectly. It’s tight, inspired, warm and I get vibes from both a Dylan from the seventies as well as from jammy psychadelia. Here are a few songs from his latest EP “Pity, Trials and Tomorrow’s Child” plus a live video:

About spreading warmth to the audience, the Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men knows exactly how to do it with their lovely folk pop. Catchy melodies with a lot of sing-a-long intentions.

We also checked out the Canadians in the band Suuns. Seductive, experimental and surprising jumps between different ambiences and rhythms, from indie dance to thick guitar driven noise walls to more suggestive works.

It’s been a couple of year since I wrote about Lars Wallin & The Tribe here on the blog. I hear from Lars, though, a little while ago as they are releasing some new singles this year, and I thought I’d present one of them here, “Rue De Mémoire”.

I recognise the somewhat harsh protest singer expression, the punk vibes and of course Lars signature, his didgeridoo. What makes this song even more special is that two famous touareg-musicians join the band in the song, the cajon-drummer Alain Plume and the bass player Zahir Aribi, which altogether  becomes a unique mix of influences from three continents (or four?). Listen here below.

Lars Wallin & the Tribes’ site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Rara – on Soundcloud

Today Piroth continues their series with songs that illustrate the seasons. Here’s their image of Spring/early Summer, “Morgondimma” (“Morning mist”).

Piroth’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

I haven’t written about the Swedish singer/songwriter Lars Bygdén before, an oversight I of course have to correct. Because if you have created a wonderful album such as his Americana-vibing “LB” from last year, you certainly deserve to be heard. During Spring he also released a video to the album’s starting track, “The Hole”.

It’s a rather varied record with naked acoustic songs to country to songs with a more melodic pop touch, but everything’s glued nicely together with a pleasant, releaxed and warm melancholy, where you can land in a slower tempo, safely guided by Lars’ calm, somewhat sad voice. Enjoyable. Taste here below in a couple of songs.

Lars Bygdéns hemsida – på Facebook – på Spotify – på Wimp

Here’s an excellent piece of energic and dramatic folk rock from the band Bernard et Bianca , hailing from Göteborg. It’s called “White Mountain Lies” and is taken from their new album with the same name, which was released earlier this year.

Bernard et Biancas site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp