Nordic Spotlight
The best music and music festivals in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands
Though the Norwegian electronic outfit nylenda gleans its name from the Norse term for “new land,” the trio’s latest release is reminiscent of the three that preceded it in the best ways possible. The band has reappeared from underneath a haze of club fog with “Fires Light,” a triumphant continuation of extremely danceable form that […]
The history of disco in the Nordic countries, particularly the Scandinavian ones, is nothing short of rich. With “Kjeiken,” Norwegian producer Even Hymer Gillebo, known more commonly as Cavego, is set to add to that legacy. A glimmering, linear disco tune inspired by the 1970s but embellished with the digital touches of this decade, “Kjeiken,” from […]
It still feels subversive when a pop song built on elements often used to depict faltering or collapsed romances turns out to be about something far more politically charged. “Who did this,” a standout from Norwegian quintet Pre-Echo‘s debut EP Consider This, achieves this trick with simultaneous bombast and elegance. Its delay-drenched guitar strums, melancholic but […]
Most of what we post about here at Nordic Spotlight is music by Nordic artists who sing in English. Not Alibiet. The Bergen-based band’s music is almost entirely sung in Norwegian; to not compromise on singing in one’s native language is pretty damn respectable. It helps that frontperson Maylen Rusti sounds great no matter what […]
Norwegian polymath Thomas Meidell knows a thing or two about collaborating. As Mt. Mélodie, he makes rock music infused with chamber and folk influences, but it’s rarely just him on his songs. When he records his music, “he is joined by a revolving cast of musicians,” to quote the man directly. Outside Mt. Mélodie, he’s been part […]
Diamond Club, the singles label that Norwegian label Brilliance runs, is having one mother of a hot streak. We’ve recently reported on Diamond Club’s stunners by Company Ink and Intertwine, and now, we’re stoked on the debut single by Bergen-based singer and songwriter MAIH. It wouldn’t be appropriate to label “Habits” as the work of […]
Daydreamer by The Age of Colored LizardsAlthough much of garage rock’s genesis can be traced back to the US and the UK, the past many years have often seen Nordic artists making some of the genre’s most compelling music. Case in point is Norwegian trio The Age of Colored Lizards, whose recent debut album Daydreamer is almost […]
Oslo-based newcomer Felix probably thinks you’re reading this on a phone. On “Put Your Phone Away,” a track from his newly released, aptly-titled EP Bedroom Recordings, he implores the object of his tale—presumably a romantic interest whose fixation on her phone prevents her from being mentally present in this moment they’re spending together—to, among other things, […]
Norwegian six-piece SKAAR makes music that’s appropriately layered for a group with two more people than in the standard rock band arrangement. SKAAR members include vocalist Karla Lesley Jaeger, who contributes solely her voice; Thor Saunes-Skarsgaard, who handles both bass and synth; and two guitarists whose only role is to play guitars. That’s right: SKAAR seems […]
We still think, “Oh wow, that last name is so Nordic,” every time we encounter Amanda Tenfjord. The thought is fleeting, though, because then we’re confronted with her music, and it’s always overpowering and all-consuming. “Let Me Think,” her newest tune, follows the R&B-infused coolness of her glorious “First Impression” from earlier this year; if anything, it amplifies […]