A couple of previous regulars feature tonight.
Raging Lines (Norway) – Yamaha 237 (sample track from debut album Smile Blank + video)
Raging Lines (Sondre Thomassen Thorvik) has something dark and mysterious about him, we have ascertained that already from previously released singles.
Together with a voice that could belong to Thor or Odin. He doesn’t do boy soprano.
Now he has released his debut album, ‘Smile Blank’. Don’t know about you but that has an aura of a Tarantino film about it.
The album project began in the early months of 2025, culminating in a release on 19th February 2026.
It consists of nine tracks, and comprises elements of post-punk, new wave, some synth-pop and “other related musical styles.”
I intended to select the title track as the album sample, partly because it channels New Order very well, or the closer on the album, the Lou Reed-like ‘Too Dramatic, too paralysed’, which tells a story just in its headline.
But as there is a video for the track ‘Yamaha 237’ I opted for that instead, thinking it might be an ode to a group of bikers who help little old ladies across the road and mow the gardens of the retired.
Actually it references the synthesiser setting used for the riff on the track. The one used is the keyboard PSR-E453 by Yamaha, which can replicate the sort of analogue sounds common in the 1970s and 80s, giving it a chilled dated feel and sounding here like a tuned buzz saw.
Again I got a Lou Reed vibe from it and we do appear to be walking on the wild side, in the video, which I’m guessing might have been shot on the grittier west side of Oslo.
I studied the lyrics without being able to get a handle on them. Set in a place where “a kid kills before he’s tying his own shoes” there is an undercurrent of, again, Tarantino-like darkness about it, of half-drawn characters flitting around in the shadows.
While the song rocks out vigorously and very agreeably, it is vocally is where he excels, painting a dystopian scene as well as any artist.
It strikes me after hearing several of Sondre’s songs now that he is filling a void where precious few others even dare to tread these days, even if they could.
The video was filmed, directed and edited by Herman Hjelkrem from Scream Media.
Find him on:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raginglines/
Carsten Bojsen (Denmark) – Love and Love Only (single)
Carsten Bojsen released his latest single ‘Love and Love Only’ on 20th February, a precursor to the EP ‘Ruin Beauty’, which will come out on May 15th.
He says, “It can be difficult to take care of yourself in these times. I wrote this song to offer my perspective from where I am.”
I reckon most people would agree with that sentiment and also with the thought that “it is only love and friendship that enable us to see through the fog.”
The Beatles, Of Monsters & Men, N-Trance, Madness, Donny Hathaway and Bobby Hebb – whoever he is – amongst many others and in many genres have all followed a similar path lyrical but it isn’t an assertion that wears out with the passing of time.
In Carsten’s case melancholy pervades most of the song but it isn’t the undirected melancholy that attaches itself to many Nordic region songs.
It is targeted at ‘lies and mental thrash’ and I have an idea about at least one person he might be addressing.
“Speak to your friends and be careful” he advises, – “look through the haze”. You can’t trust anyone.
Meanwhile the entire first stanza is dystopian in its outlook – “Old men looking for beauty” (where, online? On an island?), “liars telling the truth when shepherds have lost their way”.
“Show me what I need to be happy/tell me what I need to feel free” he pleads like Morrissey on the cross.
But redemption is at hand. “Love and love only can see us through these dark days” as the major chords kick in during the chorus.
Carsten Bojsen has his finger on the pulse of modern life and proves that with every new release.
On this song he is assisted by Michael Lund and Nikolai Heyman.
The song is supported by KODA’s release fund.
(Continues after the Spotify link)
Find him/them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carsten.bojsen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carstenbojsen/
