It’s not too often you hear sirens fit in so sweetly in a pop track like in Avante Black’s new song “Drug Money”. The London-based band, with Swedish singer Ottilia Zimmerman Kjulsten at the front, makes pop with a shoegaze touch. Here on their second single they have created a dense, spacious pop sound where Ottilia, cool and innocent, smoothly glides through the track, right in the middle of all the the alarming sounds around her.
It’s not too often that sirens fit in so sweetly in a pop track like in Avante Black’s new single “Drug Money”. The London-based band, with Swedish singer Ottilia Zimmerman Kjulsten at the front,
The Norwegian band Wild Fauna has created a sweet, messy sound on their debut single “Crooked Smile”. It’s raw, full of crunchy garage guitars and feels liberatingly simple and energic in the powerpop-vibing chorus. The 90’s seem close when I’m thinking about refererences and I’m not surprised when I see that they mention Dinosaur Jr. and The Posies among the influences. The song is the first taste of their debut album, which is due for release soon.
The first song I heard from Joe & the Anchor’s new album “King of Sins” was the wonderful ambient ballad “Sin Against Sins”. The song is not quite characteristic for the other songs on the record, but I can sense some spices here which runs through many of the tracks. Here’s an unpredictability in the harmonies and the song structures, big emotions and a sweet sense of melodies.
The album is quite varied, a brew with inspiration from britpop, Americana, alternative rock and other styles. They mention artists like The National, Editors and Nick Drake as influences and when I listen I feel it pours down associations from the first song to the last and I hear everything from Soundgarden to Foo Fighters and Manic Street Preachers. It’s a colourful mix with both deep dark shades as well as brighter ones. The base is a a rather powerful and spacious guitar-based sound, carefully spiced with synths and nice vocal harmonies. Joakim Rosenlund has a special tone in his voice I really appreciate and he also has both the power and the amplitude in his expression to take on these multifaceted songs. Another splash of colour is Yrsa Schau’s vocals who join Joakim on a few songs.
Here are three excellent samples from a quite delicious album, the second full length record from the band since they started in 2013.
The atmosphere is dark, but the earnestness and glow in Theresia Billberg’s voice keeps us warm in the winter cold. She calls herself Maj Dolores as a solo artist and together with her collaborator Martin Östman she has produced the three-track EP “Min vän” (“My Friend”). Here they have created their own sound, a combo of an organic rhythm section and synth pop with vibes of the eighties. The personal and intimate stories land in sparkling choruses, which feel emotional as well as catchy. These are three appealing, strong and daring songs that definitely deserve more attention.
“Say That” is a song collaboration between the Stockolm based producer and artist Finis Mundi, aka Nino de Felipe, and the German artist Novaa. It’s an exciting duet and love drama where the singers interestingly has their own musical theme. The song starts with Novaa’s soft vocals in a laidback, intimate R&B-vibing verse and then switches over to Finis Mundi who cuts through the fluffy pillow with screaming synths and a harder beat. And they continue swapping like this the song through, glued together by sweet overlaps and the underlying theme. A different and creative track.
Meadowmusic presents new music from many corners and edges of the world, but with a strong focus on Swedish music. Listen, read, watch, comment and share the music. All songs you find here on this page have been approved for publication by the artists and labels.
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