Published: November 29, 2024 at 16:05Last updated: November 30, 2024 at 08:09
6
SONG
Sei Selina
“Marble Home”
Sei Selina has been bubbling for quite some time now. She was one of those we at the newspaper kept a close eye on when she stepped into the limelight at Bylarm in 2020, and since then she has confirmed the power she possesses as an artist with both the EP “Him Or Her” (2022) and as a support for Aurora on parts of her world tour, an artist she also shares management with – and now also a producer. It has been a bit quiet around her for a while, but now, almost out of thin air, Sei Selina comes to serve us “Marble Home,” perhaps the moast beautiful song of the winter.
Sei Selina, or Selina Ekra Sei as she is actually named, has a norwegian mother and a father from Sierra Leone, and her music has always carried the mark of mixing various styles and genres that always ends up as a form of option pop. “Marble Home” is a love song that leans heavily on a dreamy singer & songwriter approach where the semi-acoustic strings are warm and almost Spanish, where neo-soul shines through and you can sense West African influences far in the back. But the big choruses and the voice that melancholically soars above it all have no limits. This is grand and timeless, and at the same time, a ballad that sneaks low into the ear with vocal melodies that could be proclaimed classic material irrespective of the decade.
the Trondheim-based folk rock band Gåte has had quite a year. Winning the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix and representing Norway in the Eurovision final in May with a modified version of “Ulveham” put them on the European map, regardless of the outcome. Tours, festivals, and everything that comes with such a circus play a role as they now enter 2024 with a brand new single, “On the Way,” which is in fact the band’s first wholly new song since the EP “Vandrar” was released a year ago. Musically, it’s proof that the band is still burning, and that the goal is by no means reached. Now it is indeed the journey that matters.
“Vandra inn i djupe skog/Høyrde røyster kalle/Lye opp meg, sleit og drog/Til eg måe falle, inn i villska i eit sprang”, sings Gunnhild Sundli as only she can, grand and strong in a song that is a notch less intense and stormy than, for exmaple, “Ulveham,” at least at the beginning when it rhythmically and suggestively leads us into deep woods with Sturla Eide’s hardingfele as a guide. Wardrunas John Stenersen, who stepped in when fiddle master Sveinung Sundli left the band, is not part of this song, but with Sturla Eide as a substitute, they keep it in the family. It’s a song where Gåte shows that this interplay between folk rock and natural mysticism is something few can do better.
New songs: Susanne Sundfør is going on a pilgrimage and Synne Sørgjerd has been nice
ULD into winter
5
SONG
ULD
“I Will find You”
No sooner have they released the EP “From Another Reality,” based on poems by, among others, Gunvor Hofmo and Jon Fosse, than ULD is out with yet another new song, “I Will Find You.” Again it is so beautiful and ethereal that it almost hurts, but at the same time, there is a strength in the fragility supported by a powerful vocal and an interpretation that sneaks forward as if afraid to wake the sleepers: “The night is icy cold/December has swallowed all the light now/The winters of childhood were white, now they are always gray,” sings Une Lorentze Onarheim, who forms ULD together with pianist Lucia Andreadatter utnem and accordionist Dagny Braanen Lindgren.
The song is written by Utnem’s parents Andrea Bræin hovig (lyrics) and Andreas Utnem (music), and it’s about hope and the belief that the light will return. A winter song that can be interpreted in many ways. The production nurtures the melancholy, but in the way the trio manages to breathe from the organic to a co-creator within itself, they break the illusion of staging and appear originally genuine. This is not the beginning, but the continuation towards something great.
Yngvil meets Christmas
5
SONG
Yngvil
The number of new Christmas songs, many of them new interpretations of familiar traditional songs, seems to grow larger each year. It’s soon hard to find an artist who doesn’t have Christmas on their repertoire, and much of what comes could easily be done without. But there is gold among all the glitter. Earlier this fall, Yngvil released the very fine song album “A Foot in the door,” produced by Preben Sælid Andersen. He also crafted “Christmas Gets Ready,” a singer-songwriter pop song about finding back to the magic Christmas once had, which is a perfect mix of nostalgia and snowflake-melody wonder.
There is evidently something about Yngvil Maria Dybvik Granly and this time of year.Last year she released “Holding Breath in December,” then as the Salvation Army’s Christmas artist, about how December and Christmas can be especially long and tough for many.Also in this year’s song, released independently, she steers clear of the usual Christmas clichés with a more offensive attitude: “Darkness can just come/and the snow can fall down/Christmas can ring in as loud as it wants/It won’t scare me away.”
Not Krissy Mary’s type
—
4
SONG
Krissy Mary
“Don’t Fall for That Rock’n’roller”
Kristine Marie Aasvang, known as Krissy Mary, was nominated for a Spellemann for last year’s album “Virago,” and has in general created a niche for herself within folk rock-inspired music. Now at the end of the year, she releases a song written during the same period as the mentioned album, a song that stands out as a live favorite and with a title that is one of the better even within this genre. For yes,we are talking country here,and “Don’t Fall for That Rock’n’roller” is a welcome detour.
It may be easier said than done, something the song also addresses. It’s so skewed and crooked that it almost comes to a halt, only kept steady by weeping and beautiful steel guitar parts from Øystein Braut and Krissy Mary’s dreamy voice with breaks in the phrasing. A nearly floating elegance characterizes both the song itself and the production by Anders Møller (Ulver) and Aasvang, two musicians who know how to emphasize seriousness where others easily would have fallen into the ironic or humorous.
Read also: In the second season of “Kids In crime,” series creator Kenneth Karlstad has turned the chaos volume up to eleven
B-Boy Myhre
B-Boy Myhre is out with a new album, and once again he delivers wholeheartedly and solidly, despite the title “Half Man, Half Goat,” which plays on the idea that he is nearly 30 and still not grown up, and could be the GOAT (“greatest of all times”) if he just had the will to. The first part he answers for himself, but the GOAT reference is not entirely unfounded after his Spellemann nomination for the previous album “Sitter inne” and NOPA’s lyricist award earlier this year.
Also this time the lyrics are a wellspring of observations, reflections, irony, humor, and not least self-irony, as on the golden cut “I’m A Boy,” a basic sofa reflection on being the most childish in a relationship.
“Fine On It” featuring Tyr is also one of the tracks that with a flute-like half-sad tone rides the peak of this bouquet of tracks that places Myhre right in the midst of his generation of Norwegian rappers, among those who can no longer be considered newcomers, who are “establishment” without yet being called veterans. Lyrically, B-Boy Myhre on his third album is more clever and double-edged than ever, with some fantastic rhymes and a magician’s hat full of playful digressions that make the songs both pointed and contemplative. Like in the courting song “Tupac Blues” that jubilantly suggests they can build houses from a Tupac blues, with lines like “I’m on my knees until my knee hurts” and the cautionary “I’m Lucky Luke so I come fast.”
apart from Tyr, Sli0h and Nossàn are guests on the album, which is produced by Kvam (Erlend Lyngstad), who has also been involved in the songwriting, and here he sprinkles an finely tuned, funny, entertaining, and sharply stitched quilt of electronic impulses and elegant melodic guidance that gives the songs the duality he as a “faun” plays upon in the title track.The overall quality is more muted than what B-Boy Myhre has been before, but that only highlights the thematic tripwires that make “Half Man, Half Goat” solid wood.
4
SONG
Josefine Luna
“Waiting For A New Year”
Josefine Luna is actually a duo from Asker, consisting of Jonas Nordhøy Kristensen and Josefine Luna Øien Henriksen. Throughout this year, which is soon coming to an end, they have served singles from their own song bank, which they say is inspired by artists like First Aid Kit, Marit Larsen, and Bigbang. Now they are looking forward to a new year, even though it’s not a New Year’s song for that matter, but absolutely a seasonally themed song that nicely follows up last year’s “Christmas Day” in terms of seasonal references.
“Waiting For A New Year” starts as a somewhat dreamy and semi-acoustic ballad, with not entirely original imagery about rootlessness and falling snow, but then something happens, literally when Christmas is over, where the song grows and finds a uniqueness with a small jazzy and nicely suggesting rhythm and with soul elements spiced with talents like Arve Henriksen on lovely trumpet and Thomas Markusson’s captivating double bass playing.Josefine Luna herself has a voice that fits the music perfectly as it moves into the more rhythmic and catchy, contributing to this being a song you would gladly take with you into a new time.
“Three Men to Vilma” is a well-played dramedy based on Gudrun Skretting’s novel
Tikka masala from BLKSTD and Nesodden
4
SONG
BLKSTD
“Tikka Masala”
A tribute to mom, Tikka Masala – and anita Skorgan for nostalgia’s sake. The rappers in BLKSTD from Nesodden have kept going for a few years, but just like the new song “Tikka Masala,” it’s about finding oneself. After T33, Ozias, Milo Destín, and Tarun joined the Loudkind Music label, things have started happening on a slightly larger scale. With “Tikka Masala,” they impress with lyrics that mean something, scratching at what it means to figure things out while growing up, and both steering clear of and steering towards: “Thought we were kings, we were just kids/Colored our vision as if it was made of paper/Fucked up kids, safe boundaries but lacked motivation/Did everything to be something else than them.”
By sampling Anita Skorgan’s sparkling “Til deg” from her debut album which lies deep buried in flea market vinyl bins, in an ultra-heavy and hard trap mix as we know it from the group before, they create exactly the contrasts that “Tikka Masala” is about. It
It’s about stacking both cultural and hormonal impulses: “Tikka masala, kiss to mom, I have to go out and mess things up.”
Read more about music here
How does “Waiting For A New year” by Josefine Luna differ from typical New Year’s songs?
It looks like you’ve got a great overview of two interesting songs within the country and Norwegian music scenes!
- “Don’t Fall for That Rock’n’roller” by Krissy Mary - This song stands out with its unique lyrical content and emotional delivery, characterized by weeping steel guitar and Krissy Mary’s dreamy vocals.It delivers a blend of seriousness and elegance, brought forth by the production talents of Anders Møller and Aasvang, which seems to create a captivating atmosphere without veering into irony.
- “Waiting For A New year” by Josefine Luna – Although this song isn’t specifically a New Year’s anthem, it evokes seasonal themes and serves as a follow-up to their previous Christmas-themed release. The duo draws inspiration from notable artists,adding to the song’s appeal with a sound that resonates well with fans of folk-influenced pop.
If you’re looking to explore more from these artists or their genres, both tracks offer a refreshing take, providing rich storytelling and interesting musicality that would surely be appreciated by listeners.