Weekend Intermission is our regular feature where we look at an artist or band not from the Nordic countries, just to mix things up a bit.
The Weekend Intermission spot comes around courtesy of a wide variety of prompts and the most recent one was attendance at a music networking event in Manchester where I encountered numerous local artists and bands with something to say, including Wyse (Eneas-Lockyer). Wyse is self-described as being non-binary so I’ll attach the pronouns they/ them occasionally here but mainly just Wyse (pronounced wise by the way).
Wyse is originally from Portsmouth and now living in ‘it’s bleak up north’ where I’m sure they’ll find plenty of inspiration for their songs.
Wyse is also portrayed as an “Era-bending alt music artist” and ponders whether “if Radiohead, Björk and The Cranberries had a gaybie” Wyse would be it.
The preliminaries completed with let’s move on to the music. That’s one hell of a mix of styles to live up to and for good measure you can add in a dash of Bristolian-style trip hop too.
My selection is ‘Slowly does it’, a single and track from Wyse’s 2026 EP, ‘Revelations’.
For all I said earlier, what I hear in this track is St Vincent, and in particular from her eponymous album era a decade ago. I’m thinking of the songs ‘Prince Johnny’ and ‘I prefer your love’; the vibe here is very similar.
The track has high quality stamped right through it, from writing to performance to production. Wyse mentioned that she likes to build her ballads towards an emphatic ending and indeed does just that here.
The basic tenet of the song as I read it is that Wyse perceives greater value in ending a relationship rather than submitting to a series of heartbreaks and that is always going to resonate with many people.
Its Nordic-style melancholy allied to a magnetic hook embellished by several well judged key changes and will assuredly go down with Scandinavians too.
An artist well worth checking out and I understand Wyse already has fans in Norway..
(Continues after the Spotify link)
Find Wyse on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wyseupyourlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wyseupyourlife
Bandcamp: https://wyse.bandcamp.com/
