The Danish-Swedish band Afenginn was formed in 2002 and have now released five full length albums, counting the latest “Lux” which was released in the beginning of the year. I think it’s a wonderful album, where I felt just after a few bars that this was going to be a different and special experience.

They have their base in folk music, where maybe the balkan influence is what can be sensed most strongly, but I wouldn’t complain if someone called it classical music or jazz for that matter. It’s a blend of all this into their very own Afenginn brew, seductively beautiful, melancholic and which also gives me a strong filmic sensation as I listen. You can listen to the whole album on their Bandcamp page.

Afenginns site – on Facebook –on Bandcamp

Waldhotel Solitaire
Paxima

Jackson Kelley is an american musician from Utah, whose instrumental project Einstein In a Patent Office was picked up by the Swedish label Mareld Records, to be released from here in Sweden. In March he released the EP “Supernova Sounds” from which you can listen to the track “Nadir” here below. It’s an imaginative, instrumental music, downtempo, where he plays with large spaces and various ambiences and styles.

There’s a pleasant flashback in the sound gallery with analogue pads and string sounds that remind me of Vangelis, while a lot of other sounds and beats draw me away from a pure retro vibe. In “Nadir”, here below, he lets jazz-soft guitar figures guide us through the track’s many  facets, with some passages that could’ve been part of a progressive rock song. Enjoyable and interesting music that works both in the background as well as something to indulge yourself in for a while.

Einstein In a Patent Office on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

The duo Dödens Dal released their debut album “Gå ensam förbi horisonten” some weeks ago; an album they have described as a mourning process. It’s beautiful and melancholic, like a moment of resigned lament in front of the inevitable, to find peace, to find a way back. The second single from the album “Bakom Stjärnor, Bakom Tiden” (“Behind stars, behind time”), with it’s wailing, lonely foghorn in the middle of the darkness, gives a taste of the record.

Dödens dal on Spotify – on Wimp

Bakom Stjärnor, Bakom Tiden

We got to know Andreas Österberg and his Det mekaniska undret (“The mechanical wonder”) a couple of years ago, when he composed music for and filmed tram line 11 in Göteborg. Now he’s started a new project which will eventually lead to the album “Industriromantik”. It’s about old industries in Göteborg, large brick brick buildings, silent today, but where we can divine a long history behind these mighty walls. Like with the majestic Sockerbruket (sugar plant) in the image above, which is the object of the first song in the project.

Det mekaniska undret’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

Puh call their music fairy tale pop. And even if it’s not for the youngest children, there certainly is a feeling of story-telling in their varied instrumental music. I can hear the Swedish melancholy in folk progressive songs as well as the ambience from pupptries and burlesque journeys with horse and carriage. You can listen to all this on their debut album “Djärv som kärleken” (“Bold as Love”), which was released last month.

The band, hailing from Norrköping, was started in 2010 by the songwriter Jakob Sindahl as a solo project, but grew in size as he added more and more instruments to his compositions. Interestingly they have found a strong fan base in Brooklyn, NY. The organizer of the club Sugarcube in Brooklyn found them on the Internet and invited them to come and play. They grabbed the opportunity, travelled there and made an appreciated performance last year. Beside the appreciation and a bunch of new fans it also resulted in a contract with the  Brooklyn based label The Snake, who now has released their debut.

Puh on Facebook – on Spotify – on Bandcamp

Granris
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