Fou De Toi

It’s hard to keep up with an ever increasing stream of new Swedish music to my inbox. I’m trying to find ways to be more efficient, and one way is to present releases in a post like this, as a collection of releases, so I thought that I should try it out and see how it works. I hope you like it. Well, here’s a collection of new singles, and it came out with a pop theme as well.

Fou De Toi – “Fall Out”

The pop chorus masters Fou De Toi was contacted in the beginning of this year by the producer Ronald Blood (Shout Out Louds, Mando Diao et. al.). Apparently he had seen them live and liked what he heard. They had a meeting, decided to collaborate and then during a weekend in April they reunited in Ronald’s studio to work with some Fou De Toi songs. This song, “Fall Out” is a first result of this session, and if I read between the lines you’ll probably get to hear more songs soon.

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

Cajsa Siik – “The Fix”

“The Fix” is Cajsa Siik’s first single since the album debut “Plastic House” last year. It’s also the first peek at her upcoming album, an album which currently goes under the project name “Contra”. “The Fix is a conversation I had once with myself about escapism as a way of freedom”, Cajsa writes about the song.

Cajsa Siiks site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

Skuggväsen – “Kärleksdöden”

Behind this melodramatic song title “Kärleksdöden” (“The death of love”) we find a band that call themselves Skuggväsen. Well, I don’t really know if it’s a band as the info is quite scarce. It’s a synth pop song in Swedish and besides the electronic background and the nice synth lines there’s also a vibe of classic Swedish pop.

Skuggväsen on Tumblr – on Soundcloud

I Don’t Speak French – “Let It Go”

Recently I wrote about I Don’t Speak French’s debut single “We Are the People“. This week they released the follow-up “Let It Go” where they continue to explore their a bit unique indie sound with falsetto vocals, smooth bass lines and a bit restrained but groovy arrangement. I like the feeling of unpredictability in their songs, of where the song is going next.

I Don’t Speak French on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

In Summer I wrote about Filip Sundberg’s solo project Tiger Forest Cat and the soft single “Everybody’s Running”. Later he followed up with a four-track EP, an EP that doesn’t disappoint me at all. It’s a wonderfully sounding EP where he borrows to the sound from the seventies and the eighties and from today, but the feeling that remains is that from sunshine pop of the late seventies, where the sky is always blue and the winds are warm and gentle. It’s a little like some remember the summers of their childhood with always good weather, which is not so strange in my case as I was a child during those years. The EP is free to download and on the download page there are also vocal tracks to fetch if you’d like to remix the songs. Here are two of the songs.

Tiger Forest Cat on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

Kid Wave is a band based in London, but led by two musicians from Norrköping. So far they’ve released a couple of singles, the latest one being this pop single, “Shelley”, which with an airy sound and layered guitars hints at good old surf pop, but in a more relaxed tempo, like if the surfing board got to heavy and they decided to chill out on the beach instead.

Kid Wave’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara – on Soundcloud

Violet Vessel is a project created by Jimmy Sok, hailing from Lund. He released the EP “Heart” earlier this year, an EP he recorded in his bedroom during a year. He’s created a rather personal sound, like a blend of indie pop with playful guitar melodies and a more dense, repetitive shoegaze with distanced dubbed vocals. There’s some mood shifts on the EP from the dreamy, easygoing “Summersong” to the harder “Loud”, but there’s a red thread from the vocals and the room which makes it stick together just fine. Listen here below in two songs.

Violet Vessel on Facebook – on Spotify – on Bandcamp

Akiine, or Akiine Kivelä Ngarambe which is her full name, grew up in Sweden (on Blueberry Mountains whereever that is?), but is now living in London. Her first single, “Sunglassey”, was released in Summer and the second one, “Frid”, a couple of weeks ago. It’s a dreamy vibe over these pop songs, emphasised by Akiine’s soft, innocent-sounding vocals, like if it was taken from a film about an imaginary place, maybe Blueberry Mountains?

Akiine on Facebook – on Soundcloud