Caviare Days released their debut single “The Awakening” last month. The title track shines of references from Mamas and the Papas and Jefferson Airplane from the end of the sixties, while the second track “Allure” feels more experimental and difficult to place in time, though also with psychadelia vibes and a large dose of folk music.

The band consists of the two sisters Lina and Maja Westin backed by a band with drums, violin, keyboards and guitars. The single is a first taste of the debut album, to be released next year. Their name is taken from a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “Tender Is the Night”.

Read more on Caviare Days’ site and on Facebook. The single is available on Spotify.

The Awakening

Buy “The Awakening” – on iTunes – on Amazon

Antonia Vai is a singer/songwriter from Stockholm who’s working now on her first full length album. But there are a bunch of  songs to listen to already now; songs recorded mainly by herself and which she publish on her pages in a steady stream.

The influences seem to come from a number of sources, but the most obvious vibe is a dramatic feeling in many songs in the direction of Björk, without exactly sounding like Björk. Mix that with a lot of soul vibes, closer to Erykah Badu, as Antonia describes it herself. I also sense inspiration from folk music; from the latin world, from the US, and some song from the Swedish mellow folk tradition.

You can listen to the songs on her site or on her Facebook page. She also has a frequently updated Youtube channel. Here are two songs:

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite
Russian Roulette

Everett Parker is Daniel Börjesson’s solo project he started in 2006. He tells about the name that the project’s name from the start was Writers Edge, mainly because he then only had his lyrics and had just started to play the guitar. He got tired of that name and changed to Everett Parker. Everett he got from George Clooney’s character in the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou”, and Parker, well, it sounded good together with the first name.

“Run For the Uppercut” is the name of his debut EP and was released about a month ago. On the surface it’s about americana and somewhere close the spirit of Dylan inevitably shows itself. A closer look reveals four songs of different character, all with Everett’s somewhat raspy voice that breathes authenticity into the well-written lyrics. I’m close to the sixties in the naked production but in a song like “Truck Light Search” I sense that I get closer to contemporary  singer/songwriters like Damien Rice in the mellow feeling.

Listen more on Spotify or on Soundcloud. You can find Everett Parker on his site and on Facebook.

Central Station

Support the artist: Buy “Run For the Uppercut” – on Itunes – on Amazon

The duo Musicemia, consisting of Daniel Renström and Goran Sajinovic, has a somewhat different setup with acoustic guitar and accordion. They describe their music as folk/rock/lo-fi influenced by Pearl Jam, Beirut and Yann Tiersen which feels like a very fitting description of how they sound.

With a nice voice from Daniel Renström they produce a quite pleasant melancholy, a melancholy with ingredients from various sources in folk music. I hear British islands, french cafés, some americana and on occasion a breath from the Balkans.

They have recently released their second EP “Light and Sound” which you can listen to on their Bandcamp page or on Spotify. Follow Musicemia on Facebook.

I Am

I discovered Jon Rinneby and his special ability of creating melodies that stick, a couple of years ago. It’s hard to put your finger on it but all my alarm signals shouted out that this was a songwriter who had that extra creativity to craft songs that you can’t get rid of. That he’s not more well-known is just because of that he hasn’t put his marketing puzzle together yet.

It seems, though, that this is on it’s way with his band Turn Off Your Television, a trio that recently released their self-titled debut album, And I wasn’t disappointed; it’s a brilliant album that can stand many listens. I’ve tested it.

They play pop with americana influences in a soft and nice ambience. I recognize “20 Million People” from before but the other songs are new to me, and they show a good variation and excellent songwriting. To me the best song is the totally disarming “The Days We Have Today”, which you can listen to here below.

You can listen to the album and download it for free on the band’s site and it’s also available on Spotify. You can also follow Turn Off Your Television on Facebook.

Never Rusting Symphony
The Days We Have Today