Out of Northern Norway comes the extraordinary voice of Rosie Maribell (Grønvoll), a singer-songwriter currently based in Oslo, which must be as different as central London and the Scottish Highlands.
Rosie Maribell is a dedicated advocate for her Arctic home region, about which she sings here in her local dialect.
And why not? I’m sure it’s idyllic up there and we have featured numerous artists that write and sing in the Sámi language, which is found in the northern territories of Sweden, Norway and Finland although I don’t think this is Sámi.
It isn’t unusual to find songs about belonging, identity, and finding your way back to your roots from artists that have left their origins behind and sometimes return to them and again we have featured quite a few of those.
But Rosie Maribell goes a stage further when she asks pointedly “Are you who you are/Because of everything you see”, meaning, I presume, does your habitat shape your view of the world? And is that interpretation fixed or variable?
‘Telbake’ is a slow burner that morphs into a power ballad pretty quickly and then some, a commanding vocal and (I guess) multi-tracked vocal backing eclipsing the melody and delivered in a powerful fashion, while she invokes strong imagery like
“two ants in silk veils/fighting for life with sharp claws”
and
“Plucking heather that understands/what it means to be free”
to paint a vivid picture of a place that is “higher up the sky”.
And the final note is sublime.
(Continues after the Spotify link)
‘Telbake’ marks the beginning of a new chapter for Rosie Maribell and a series of releases throughout 2026.
Find her on:
Website: https://rosiemaribell.no/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosiemaribellmusic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosiemaribellmusic/
