Johan Reinhold

Johan Reinhold – “Feel For You”

“Feel For You” is Johan Reinhold’s warm tribute to his mother, who passed away a year ago of cancer. Here you’ll also find the explanation to why Johan took a pause from the music, even though he was in the middle of the success with his songs, among them “Shoot Me Down“, which I wrote about. He writes that he went through a hard time and he yearned for the opportunity to be able to tell his mother how much she meant to him. He did this in the best way possible: with this song.

The song is also his way of picking up his music career where he left it, and is one of the two songs of the single “Closing Doors”, due for release May 12th. All net proceeds will go to charity to help fight cancer.

HvH – “Cause of Your Destruction”

HvH stands for “Hammar village heights” and is the name of a new indie trio from the outskirts of Stockholm. Their debut single is called “Cause of Your Destruction”, a hymn-like electro pop song, rather naked but yet grand. The song is also a part of a new election campaign album for F! (Swedish feminist party). It’s an album with songs from 65 artists, well known as well as less known artists, among them Robyn, The Knife, Nina Persson, Crucified Barbara, The Bear Quartet, Ane Brun and many others. A quite unique initiative in Swedish politics.

White Birches – “Stands of White Birches” – EP

The electro pop duo White Birches, Jenny Gabrielsson Mare and Fredrik Jonasson, promised us an EP this Spring, and now they’ve fulfilled that promise with the new four-track collection “Stands of White Birches”. It’s about dark, dreamy, beautiful melodies and with a sort of muffled electro pop sound. We’ve heard two of the songs before, and one of the songs “The End of The Line” was on my list of the best songs of last year. With the new “Take Me Dancing” they show us that their source of inspiration is certainly still there:

Square – “The Reversed Spanish Chair”

It’s been almost six years since I wrote about the band Square. They are now in the process of releasing their fourth album “The Reversed Spanish Chair”, and I notice that they haven’t lost any energy since the last time. Not the least, and they’ve been doing this since 1998, music that could be described as a mix of garage rock and ska with a turbo engine built into it. I’d even say that they sound better than ever.

I said that they were in the process of releasing the album, which actually means that they are releasing the album song by song; every other week a new track is presented until August later this year. So far they’ve shown us three songs. Here are two of them:

ismael

ismael – “Atlas”

The trio ismael released the album “Atlas” in the Autumn, an album which I didn’t have the time to write about then. Fortunately they are now releasing the title track as a single, so that they get some deserved attention here. And I like it; the band has developed their sound quite a bit since I first heard them. They have found their own poetic and melancholic space, somewhere in the vicinity of Thåström, and it feels both nostalgic and fresh. An extra plus also for the hard working bass on this track.

David Josephson – “Moln på vift”

Today David Josephson release another single from his upcoming album “Drömmaskinen”, this time with sailor choirs and vibes of Pengabrorsan and Eldkvarn.

Eddie Wheeler – “Kom in i mig”

I’ve written before about the musical elemental force from Göteborg, Eddie Wheeler, but it’s acually with this new song that he makes his solo debut, at least officially. “Kom in i mig” is the name of the song, and it sounds different from what I’ve heard from him earlier with it’s pumping, catchy electropop, and he shows that he can master this genre too.

Josefin Glenmark – “Du din jävel” – video

Here’s a new single with Josefin Glenmark, “Du din jävel”, her first single in Swedish from what I understand. Bittersweet pop with a jazzy touch with a nostalgic trace which makes the song stand out. This is the first song we hear from her next album, scheduled for release next year.

Last Lynx

Wouie – “It Is What It Is/Changes”

The duon Wouie release their songs in pairs, now for the third time this year. I like it, more good stuff for us. Apparently they are working on a full length album, due for release this summer.

Lon Rangur – “Spirit”

Lon Rangur is a duo which consists of William Laryea and Jack Elphick, two Londoners who moved to Stockholm. And their first song release, “Spirit”, with it’s catchy chorus frase and interesting electroindie-sound, certainly makes me want to here more from them.

Woolfish – “Tune of Time”

And the third duo today, Woolfish, Joakim Wiik och Samuel Heiligers, released the single “Tune of Time” earlier this week. The song is the opening track in the film “You Never Know“, which I told you about the other week, when I posted the premiere for Samuel’s solo debut with Songs of Sam. This song is something completely different from their earlier single “Files“; here we hear a soft, gorgeous acoustic pop with vocal harmonies and slowly rocking bossa rhythm that takes us through the song.

Last Lynx – “Curtains”

Last Lynx release the second single from the upcoming EP “Rifts”. It’s called “Curtains”, and I marvel at how they manage to produce one great track after the other.

Heart-Sick Groans

Heart-Sick Groans – “Black Hair Typography” -EP

I didn’t quite realize how much I missed receiving new music from Heart-Sick Groans until I listened to their new four-track EP “Black Hair Typography”. Cause it’s been a couple of years since I heard from them, and the singer Johan Brännström explains: “We had to find out if there’s more to life than music. There isn’t.”
It’s an EP where I feel at home, but at the same time they sound more unique than ever before in their special blend of sunny folk-indiepop. There are four songs, each one with it’s own character, and my favourite varies every time I listen. It’s like a lovely spring pastry, sweet and tasty, but which tastes a bit different depending on from which side you start to eat. Here are two songs:

Björns vänner – “Märker ni ingenting alls?” – EP

Björns vänner, hailing from Malmö, had a short but colourful career between 2002 and 2005. Yesterday they made a comeback with a brand new EP, which is also a first taste of a new album coming out in the Autumn. The band wasn’t part of my own musical menu back in those days, but I can understand the passion among their fanbase for the band’s uncromising rock sound and Rickard Schickes lyrics when I listen to these new songs.

Erik Christoffer – “Spanish Orange Trees”

And now a debut release. We like debuts here on Meadowmusic, as you may have noticed. It’s Erik Christoffer who has released the song “Spanish Orange Trees”, a bittersweet piano driven ballad about a Spanish adventure.

The Spiny Normans

I receive more great music than ever, so I’ll kickstart this week with six releases:

The Spiny Normans – “Waiting For the Storm” – EP

The Spiny Normans are based in Stockholm but have some of their roots in Åland. They released the debut EP in the Autumn, which will be available on Spotify and other services in a couple of weeks. I’d say it’s about folk inspired pop with a certain sense of drama. Here are two songs:

Lejonsläktet – “In och ut” – EP

The duo Lejonsläktet, whom I talked about last month, have released their debut EP now, full of great psychadelia with a vibe of Jämtland. Here’s the starting track “Ett svagt hopp om” from the EP:

The Tarantula Waltz – “Scandinavian Minds”

The Tarantula Waltz has released this Americana-sounding single from the new album “Tinder Stick Neck”, his third album which is being released this week.

Iris & Hedvig – “The Watcher & The Mind”

Here’s a new interesting young pop duo, Iris & Hedvig, with the debut single “The Watcher & The Mind”.  The song was produced by Christina Wehage, whom we’ve met before in her own project Be The Bear.

Rökmorsa

Rökmorsa is one of the projects the trio Pontus Björlin, Anders Åkesson and August Sörensons have been working on. They have collected 12 songs they recorded already in 2008 on the album “Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight”. It’s instrumental, experimental and a blend of influences from now and then. Here are two tracks:

Manor Rungs

The producer deadbeat has written songs and produced music for other artists before, for example electronica artist Compute and The Girl & The Robot. Now he’s grabbed the microphone himself and released seven songs under the name Manor Rungs. It’s a quite special blend of electronica and rock in Swedish, with some instrumental breaks. Listen for yourself: