Behind The Late Call we find Johannes Mayer, based in Stockholm, who recently released his third album “Pale Morning Light”. It’s a quite fitting name for the album, which has that ambience that arise when the sun’s first rays show up on the horizon. Beautiful, somewhat expectant, calm and still and nothing that bothers you.

The first song “Wandering Through An Empty Field” paints some brushstrokes of Coldplay, emphasized by the fact that Johannes’ voice tone reminds of Chris Martin’s. He never continues into the arena, though, and walk away in a different direction with a melodic, close, rhytmically varied singer-songwriter pop. It’s en even, dynamic album, that maybe miss those catchy songs which get stuck in your head, but with a such a pleasant experience as this, it doesn’t bother me at all.

Look at You Now

In Spring I wrote about the electro pop band Hyper Heart’s debut single “Eris”. Recently they released their second single “Fill Me Up”, offering three new tracks. “Fill Me Up” is a neat and charged electro pop song, but I enjoyed even more the beautiful buildup in the song “Swallow”, a track with a strong dramatic, filmic vibe, which caught me from the beginning til to the end.

Hyper Heart’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

Swallow

Fou De Toi know the art of creating melodies that stick in you mind. And best so far with their latest song “Pick Up Your Phone”, which has that obvious melody that catch you immediately, a melody they repeat with guitars and that’s also in a way supported in the verses. It doesn’t make it any worse that they have their own pleasant sound which feels rather relaxed and laidback where the melodies just float through and blossoms in the chorus with just the right push.

The band started one and a half year ago when the singer Erik Hääger came back after touring in the US with the rock band Carolina Liar for 18 months. He felt the urge to make music of his own and started Fou De Toi with his childhood friends Johan Malmberg, Daniel Karlsson and Ludvig Haptén. In Spring they released the debut EP “The Impossible Thrill” and now this Autumn this single with it’s two songs.

Fou De Toi’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

Pick Up Your Phone

Hellsingland Underground recently released their third album “Evil Will Prevail”. From the title one could almost expect some type of dark heavy metal, but it’s far from that. Instead it’s about uplifting rock with roots in southern rock and country rock. Well, it’s uplifting when it comes to the music but the singer Charlie Granberg’s lyrics don’t hold back when in comes to being cynical in describing the world he sees around himself. Dark and at the same time very personal.

I get the feeling of the band that continued playing while Titanic were sinking, which the band manifest already in the first song “Singing While the World Dies”. Even if they are faithful to their roots across the album, they give plenty of room for variation and exploration of some of the biggest rock influences from the seventies, where I hear Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Boston, powerpop, Americana and psykadelia in different songs. Listen for yourself in the Springsteen-vibing “You Shine the Dark Away” here below.

Hellsingland Underground’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify

You Shine the Dark Away

Yesterday I got a mail from Adore Music that they had signed a new interesting band that call themselves Easy October. It’s Kristoffer Hedberg who, with his songwriting in English, inspired the well-known colleagues Kristofer Åström, Nikke Ström (Nationalteatern, Totta) and Johan Håkansson (A Camp, Freddie Wadling) to join him in the new band. A single is going to be released in December and an album later on, but you can pre-listen now already. It’s country rock and och pop with retro feeling from the seventies mixed with vibes from indie pop. Beautiful melodies and a soft atmosphere.

Easy October’s site – on Facebook – on Bandcamp