I’ve recounted on many previous occasions how little things can point me in the direction of a particular artist or band when there are big decisions to be made.
In the case of (Knut) LYNGAR, a Norwegian independent artist now based in Sweden, one of those things is that his current abode is Bjursås in Dalarna County. I thought I recognised the town name and indeed I did even drive through it, in June/July 2010, going to and from an Arcade Fire gig at Dalhalla in nearby Rättvik, a former limestone quarry converted into a concert arena.
It also isn’t that far from Falun, which used to be the home town of Sabaton’s Hannes van Dahl and his missus, the now ex-Nightwish vocalist Floor Jansen, before they moved west.
But of greater import is the fact that LYNGAR is a latecomer to the music business, now in his mid-40s and a businessman who does his music thing on the side. We’ve had plenty of folk like that here over the years and they always get our attention.
After all, I was hardly a spring chicken when I started NMC.
In his case the catalyst was a school assignment with his daughter that brought him back to an old computer and which reopened an interest in music he had set aside around 2013–14.
Music had always been part of his life; his mother is a pianist and he had worked in radio and music promotion in Norway. Yet knowing the industry and making music himself were two very different things.
Nevertheless he had been presented with an invitation to learn production properly and make music of his own and he ventured into that a year ago. All he needed to perfect was his vocal, in which he had little confidence.
So in some ways he has been winging it and is quite happy to acknowledge that fact.
So to be perfectly candid I wasn’t expecting much but his latest single, ‘Our time now’, pressed all the right buttons. It hangs on a catchy banjo melody (or a synthesised banjo sound, you can never be sure these days), enhanced by simple but mightily impressive drum beats that sound like his daughter is banging on the bedroom wall demanding that he pack it in for the evening so she can finish her homework and get some sleep.
What I really like is that it reminds me of Katzenjammer, which broke up 10 years ago now. It’s exactly the sort of dramatic song that they excelled at. Perhaps if they hear it they might think about getting back together and covering it.
Knut is quite open about his weaker abilities and I reckon he’ll acknowledge that he needs to work on his voice some. He can get away with it now because with songs like ‘Our time now’ he is still on the fringe of being a ‘novelty artist’ so a ‘novelty voice’ fits the bill.
But for the more serious stuff, a few singing lessons would probably help.
By the way, don’t think that everything he does has a novelty tag or anything like it. As soon as this song finished, Spotify immediately launched into another one of his, a previously released single that almost seems to occupy a genre of its own. The best label I can attach to it is ‘EDM Rock’.
And its title is ‘Fucking Famous’. Perhaps one day he will be.
Stranger things happen at sea. Maybe in Bjursås, too.
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