Nordic Spotlight
The best music and music festivals in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands
Le Corbeau is nothing if not ambitious. Øystein Sandsdalen’s pet project—many might know him best for his years playing guitar in Norwegian shoegaze outfit Serena Maneesh—dropped three albums at once back in November, with little in the way of advance warning. The trilogy, titled IV V VI, comes with a whopping 27 songs; “Psycho at the Wheel,” a […]
Although Lasse Lokoy appears to be a newer name in the world of forward-thinking Norwegian artists, he’s no stranger to success. He’s already well known as the bassist for incessantly buzzy Norwegian band Sløtface, which kept itself insanely busy in 2017 and 2018. The constant craze around that band’s agitating punk seems to have not […]
Although psychedelic music doesn’t always need vocals—think about the many endless instrumental interludes that defined psych rock’s earliest days—to convey the sense of wonder, joy, and innocence that drugs can incite, sometimes, vocals can reveal hallucinatory depths otherwise inaccessible. Swedish/Norwegian duo Lerin/Hystad understands this vocal-instrumental balance quite well: Starmap, its newest album, is its first to feature vocals. […]
As the story goes, some industry insiders saw the Oslo band Spielbergs play a small venue way up north in Trondheim, and they were so blown away by the band’s set that they started a label just to release the power-punk trio’s music. It worked: Spielbergs’ debut EP, Distant Star, premiered inside a Stereogum Band to […]
Hanne Hukkelberg‘s “Stardust” sounds thoroughly 2010s, but she’s been putting out music—and receiving acclaim for it—for well over a decade. Actually, “Stardust” celebrates 15 years of Hanne Hukkelberg impressing critics such as Pitchfork and The Guardian, and it scans as the work of an artist unlikely to lose touch with what’s made her special from […]
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 […]