I can’t remember a day with so many releases, from right across the Nordics; a true record setter. Here are a handful of them, with ultra short, sharp reviews.
Nicklas Sahl (Denmark) – Trampoline (single)
Nicklas Sahl knows all about the pressure artists come under when there are 100,000 releases every day, most of them ending up on Spotify.
But he has chosen not to rush, but instead to take the time to reconnect with the heart of his songwriting.
‘Trampoline’ is a song that explores the human superpower of empathy and how Sahl has grappled with losing himself, being a sympathetic people pleaser.
It’s as catchy a tune as you’ll hear anywhere this weekend and then some and with a mesmerising guitar riff; a sort of Xhosa carnival in Soweto for Mandela’s release meets Paul Simon meets Phil Collins.
If this doesn’t get you on your feet nothing will.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicklassahlmusik
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicklassahl/
he is tall. (Denmark) – Waterboy (single)
We’ve previously completed reviews of two songs from he is tall. (Troels Thorkild Sørensen) about a US road trip he undertook a couple of years ago and his regrets at subsequently falling out with his companion for the journey, followed by an unanticipated one when we’d been expecting the third part of a trilogy, and in which he was invaded by a demon, a voice in his head that consistently tells him, “don’t do that, you’ll make a fool of yourself.”
This time out the call of that American adventure returns, fool or not. He explains, “Funny and interesting, what we get emotionally attached to – but somehow a very dorky American comedy has become like jewelry to me, maybe even an heirloom. The room you led me into was like a teaser of the future, and now I am beyond that, missing you and how the relationship was. Funny how life is – because now I wish there was a door leading to the past. All I want to do is to sit with you, feel the sun through the window and hear you telling me that you’ll be there for me – you’re my ‘Waterboy’.“
I’ve never known anyone explain his songs so well. There is no room for misunderstanding.
I think these two have a thing going for them.
Meanwhile his style remains unique. He’s a busker performing on Rodeo Drive; his words a review of the opening night of a play in The Times Literary Supplement.
And we have a video for this one.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heistall
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heistall1/
Clementina (Norway) – Leave the lights (single)
The lights seem to be in abundance just now. Only the other night Sweden’s Lights of Skadi were here and we’ve even had a rare appearance of the Aurora northern lights in Manchester, they must have got lost.
Clementina is the musical alter ego of Catharina Sletner, keyboardist and vocalist from the indie pop band Cold Mailman.
(And quite possibly the physical alter ego of Jennifer Aniston. See below. What do you think?)
Clementina has been a living room project for a while (always one up on a bedroom project I feel), and she moves onwards and upwards now, with both feet firmly placed in classic songwriting from the 60s, 70s, and 80s with a nod to the likes of Billy Joel, Van Morrison, Judy Sill, and Fleetwood Mac.
‘Leave the Lights’ is Clementina’s third single, and the nod this time is to Barry Gibb.
Clementina tries to put into words chasing the small moments in life where everything suddenly clicks, but tends to slip through our fingers before we get a proper taste of them.
“But it’s over now, once again/slipping right through my hands in the end”.
That’s quite philosophical and representative of much of the music I hear coming, especially from female singer-songwriters, out of Norway right now.
A sort of despondency that is rooted in nothing in particular, just a yearning for something that will never be.
And it’s a song that will strike a chord with many people because it articulates so many circumstances – redundancy immediately following a promotion; breaking your leg just after scoring the winning goal in the Cup Final; forgetting to submit your lottery ticket on the night your numbers come up…
I’m conscious that I’m getting too close to the concept behind Alanis Morissette’s ‘Ironic’ here (in fact those ‘ironies’ are better than hers, I reckon) but the nature of the two songs is not that dissimilar.
She says it is a perfect soundtrack to those spring and summer evenings you want to last forever, and which become magical because they flitter and pass by so quickly.
And she’s right. Before I know it, it’s gone dark and I cannt se to type proprly.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catharina.sletner
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clementinasongs/
