Three years ago, I stumbled over the Norwegian artist Solvor Vermeer’s music. I was amazed by the delicate and fragile beauty she managed to create with only her voice and the piano as her tools. Now, finally, Solvor Vermeer has plans for her debut-release,- a four track ep that will be released in April as a digital download and limited edition cd and vinyl.
The EP will be out in the UK on the fine Lazy Acre records, and her own Bloksberg label will release it elsewhere. Vermeer’s new songs are really strong, and in my opinion, this girl deserves to be huge.
The songs on the EP will be the beautiful “pocketful of memories”, “hope”, “final hour”, and the song I first heard from her, ” the beaming light”. Some of these are available for streaming on myspace, but I’m not sure if these are the EP-versions.
Here is a live-video of her performing her song “Hope” at the recent By:Larm festival in Oslo, only a couple of days ago:
…and here is the song that made my heart jump when I first heard it, “The Beaming Light”.
The EP version is probably different than this one:
The Norwegian quartet Monzanohave been one of my favourites for many years. They have been around for a very long time (almost 10 years now?), and I think my first listen to their music was in 2005, just before they released their first ep “The Window Was Open But The Smoke Wasn’t Moving”. Their debut-album “High Horses & One Trick Ponies” was released in 2007, an album I gave full score in my review. Since then, vocalist and songwriter Sjur Lyseid has had some success with his more folk/acoustic based solo-project The Little Hands of Asphalt, released a solo-album, and he has also worked as a producer for some of the bands from indie-Oslo (My Little Pony, Einar Stray, Nomber5s).
Now Monzano are back with their second album, “By This Time Last Year Everything Will Seem Younger“, released on Spoon Train Audio February 15th. This time, it’s a new band: Only Sjur Lyseid and Eivind Bøe are left from the “old” Monzano, and two new members Magnus Rauan and Eivind Almhjell have joined the band on bass and drums. I would expect them to sound a bit different after the change, but they still sound like Monzano… Is that good or bad? I’m really not sure, but I like them just the way they are, – both then and now. So, I guess it’s good, – at least for me…
The new album. “By this time…”, is like a treasure chest of good songs, and some of the gems inside sparkle more than others. I prefer the calmer moments of Monzano, and songs like “Know Your Velocity” and especially the intensely beautiful “Even Bluer Pills” could be on repeat on my player without ever making me bored. “Even Bluer Pills” may be one of the best songs I have heard from Monzano and all their related projects, ever.
On songs like these, they manage to paint with their finest brushes, – the songs are full of fine details and the warm vocals are at their best. On the only song I don’t like on the album, the upbeat and rough “The Nombers game”, they step into clichés and lose the subtle details I like so much. I usually love Lyseid’s rich vocals, but on this song, he seems to push it to the limit, and his singing becomes thin and weak. One of the more upbeat songs that manages to keep the richness and warmth, is “Grand Siblings”, where everything is to the point, and I can almost hear a young Ben Gibbard singing…
Some of our regular readers (and listeners) may know the song “Yes, We Can’t” from our own compilation “Birdsongs, Beesongs“, but in many ways it sounds even fresher and better here on the new album. I loved “our” version of the song, but this sounds like gold. “Waterways & Altitude” is another really, really good song, with lovely arrangements, fantastic lyrics and vocals, and very nice strings (cello?). There’s also a tiny distorted keyboard detail in there, that lifts this song from “really good” to “brilliant”!
The album ends perfectly, with “The Buildings, then the trees”, a stunning low-key ballad, where Lyseid’s lyrics and vocals get our full attention, only accompanied by some keyboard chords on most of the song, before everything builds bigger and bigger to a final crescendo where the album’s title is repeated by a beautiful band-choir. My spine is freezing, and my heart is warm…
I deliberately didn’t mention “Cold Waters”, where they are joined by Thea Raknes from Norma Sass. I thought you could listen to it, and make up your own mind:
Two of my favourite Norwegian artists performing together, Moddi and Kråkesølv. The song is Moddi’s “Magpie eggs” from his upcoming debut “Floriography” (8.February).
Once again, the people behind the Spoon Train Audio-label have made a compilation of independent pop from Oslo. The album is called “Oslo2″ and features 16 songs from 16 bands, – most of them are bands we already know, but some are completely new to us. This is the follow up to last years “Oslo!”, and this time they have managed to refine the pop-focus they have on these compilations. Less fuzz, more melody.
Before I start commenting on the music, I must give two thumbs up for the initiative. Compilations like this, where established artists stand next to completely unknown bands, is a great way to get new bands out to the public, and also a way to make the pop-scene stronger. The way they focus on independent pop-music gives us a varied, but consistent album. There are definitely ups and downs here, but it has become an album that you can put on and listen through without feeling the need to skip songs that don’t fit in. They all fit.
My favourites, however, are the songs from these artists:
Cold Mailman starts the show with the stunningly beautiful “Time is of the essence”, a song we also had on our own compilation “Summer’s here!” a year ago. The Oslo2-version is different, with added drums and an updated sound. I was very happy to see in the inlay that the mailman will deliver a new album in 2010. Great news!
Therese Aune is an artist I have heard about, but never heard. Her song “Chameleon” is worth buying the album for on its own. She should have been on those big stages with this! Her vocals are intensely strong and beautiful, full of colour and dynamics, and the piano-arrangements on this song fits the atmosphere perfectly. Definitely one on my top experiences on this album.
Einar Stray is a hidden gem in the Norwegian pop-scene, and even if he seem to do a lot of very interesting things, his name rarely gets into the big papers. On this compilation, he’s represented with “Arrows” from last years “Favors & fields” ep, – a classic song in my ears and one of the better and most interesting songs ever produced in my little country. Stray is like a northern mix between Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, The Books, and Andrew Bird. His debutalbum will be released in 2011.
Go Fandango is one of the new names on this album, and their upbeat “End credits” leaves me wanting to hear more from the band. In all its pop-freshness it also carries some darker elements and some clear references to 80s indie.
Like Spinning’s acoustic and folky “Crush (And Naivety)” was a song that played along without leaving the biggest marks the first times I listened to the album, but it is definitely a grower and I really LOVE this little song now. Like the before mentioned Einar Stray, Like Spinning’s main woman Kari Jahnsen leaves the melody in front, but adds a lot of interesting elements behind it. Interesting!
Casa Murilo is one of the new Oslo pop bands that I have very high hopes for. Their song “Murilo, I love you” is one of the few I actually skip back to hear again and again. A lovely and super-catchy pop song.
Seppuku Zephyr Dance is another of the unknown names on the compilation, and another good one. Their dreamy, almost shoegazy (but not) song “Carousel” makes me think of the early days 4ad bands like Cocteau Twins or Lush, but also the less noisy sides of other Norwegian bands like Je Suis Animal and Maribel.
Monzano, – Sjur Lyseid from The Little Hands of Asphalt’s main band – give us a very good new song from their upcoming album on this compilation. On the beautiful “Cold Waters”, we can hear Lyseid in a duet with Thea Glenton Raknes, the singer in Norma Sass.
“Oslo2″ should be in the shops from today.
Here’s another favourite from the compilation, My Little Pony’s “The Capital of Norway”:
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