(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Already at the end of February, the Norwegian market is flooded with good Norwegian music, debutants as well as more or less established artists who have finally managed to create the album everyone has been waiting for.
Beautiful Ephemera
The Bergen trio Ephemera has a name that means housefly. With their new album, "Air", they have proven that they are not. "Air" was released earlier this week, on the side of everything that might otherwise be of trend. The trio received Spellemann last weekend as best pop group. Something Dagbladet – strangely enough – called surprising. They started in 2003 by ravaging the radio with the beautiful "Girls keep secrets in the strangest ways". And already the Alarm- and Spellemann-awarded album "Balloons and Champagne" is topped. For no one is more beautiful in the pop kingdom right now. To the extent that Ephemera can actually be compared to anything, it has to be a kind of female version of Simon & Garfunkel (who has finally made a comeback, yippie!) Or The Murmurs.
Like many of the artists, Ephemera has chosen to go outside the big companies, and they run their own record label. Greater control seems to be the trend, and either you do as much as possible yourself, or you go directly abroad. Presumably, it gives less risk of over-exposure with subsequent total collapse.
Elegant Bertine
Bertine Zetlitz is an artist who also has several years behind her, and who has sprinkled herself with beautiful pop songs at irregular intervals. It has seldom been such a good album, but this week she released "Sweet injections". Where Ephemera's pop music is characterized by warm, beautiful pop, Bertine is definitely in a cooler, more electronic universe. "Sweet injections" has given birth to the huge hit "Girl Like You" and fives and sixes in the biggest newspapers. Totally deserved. In addition to having a distinctive and strong voice, Zetlitz is a songwriter of rank, and not least a stylist. There are few obvious choices on "Sweet injections". Should some Norwegian artists focus on an international launch this year, this is probably the best candidate. At least so far, in addition to the above Ephemera.
Exciting debutants
2002 gave us new names like Thomas Dybdahl, Maria Mena, Paperboys and not least Gåte. 2003 has already brought us Erlend Øye, Sergeant Petter, Cinnamoon and Furia. Not so well known names yet, but they should be. Some of them have been around for a long time before they finally released a CD. They have all received glowing reviews, in fact it seems that hardly a week goes by without praise of Norwegian artists from the critics. It is sensational, but in every way deserved. And yet we are waiting for Nathalie Nordnes, who has charmed a lot with her slightly twisted and insanely beautiful song "Only because", a pop schläger in bossa nova beat.
Erlend Øye was established a long time ago, if not as a solo artist. He makes up half of the duo Kings and Convenience, also somewhere near Simon & Garfunkel land. In addition, he is known for text lines and vocals on Röyksopp's "Poor Leno" and "Remind Me". He invests solo in electronics. It may not be a solid album from the man who is so trendy that one suspects him of wearing contact lenses under the inch-thick spectacles to look sufficiently nerdy, but with songs like "The Talk" and "Sudden Rush" he has a long way to go succeed here too.
Furia consists of five girls from Os, without pretending to have taken too much damage from just that. That the band is equipped with its own hairdresser has never been hidden, and here it is a lot of fine. Musically, they are in a pop rock landscape, and the debut album "… and then we married the World" contains gems like the much played "Superlove vibrations" and much other very audible material. Furia is also a well-established concert band. Good, but not quite the goal is not the CD debut, despite good reviews also to them.
60s pop and country rock
Jessica Fletchers does not think there is any point in putting down the 60's and goes on with organ, guitars and bouncy pop songs with Beatles choirs and Kinks references. They do so on the increasingly traditional Norwegian label Perfect Pop, which has previously enriched the country with rattle pop such as Astroburger and The Tables. It is hardly innovative, but with such strong pop songs is "What happened to the?" an impressive CD that smells like summer already. If you want a happiness pill, this is a good choice. Jessica Flethers has previously released two EPs.
Cinnamoon started, according to themselves, as an informal band playing at parties. Here it is the 80's that apply, and they sound perhaps most of all like an American underground rock band from the mentioned period. The nostalgia goes in the direction of continuous, but strangely joyful depressive reactions and parties that last all night. Here, too, the song material is rock solid, and there is a strong need to look for 80s clothes and arrange noisy home parties. Something tells me that Cinnamoon has listened to both Nick Cave, REM, Wall of Voodoo / Stan Ridgway and possibly Hoodoo Gurus. It's all right, as long as they manage to make the genre their own, and "Cinnamoon" is a record with great qualities and durability.
Sergeant Petter has also released a brilliant debut album since the New Year. "It's a record" is full of strong songs. In terms of genre, he draws elements from both country, rock, disco and pop, and most other places. The country inspiration is shown not least in the choice of instruments, such as banjo, steel guitar and mandolin, and the prairie atmosphere is clear in many of the songs. But Petter also has room for sitar and pop choruses. Definitely one of the more innovative debutants. "It's a record" is a record to fall deeply and permanently in love with.
Unusual list pop
The list toppers of the moment are the Kaizers Orchestra troika, which has delivered an album even stronger than its debut, Midnight Choir, which is on its fifth record, and Erlend Øye.
On the singles charts we also find St. Thomas, who is out with a very catchy "A long long time ep". St. Thomas has apparently become less of an asshole, but self-confidence is still beyond all reason. In 2003, he focuses on a more cheerful tone in the title track, which was also performed at the Spellemann Awards. St. Thomas sounds like a strange cross between Lars Lillo Stenberg and Neil Young (the former tends to cover the latter as well), but mostly as himself. The broken English hardly promotes a foreign advance, but who knows? Musically, it keeps from here to Bangkok.
That the Kaizers could ever become list pop heroes with their relatively rattling and not very good omparock with oil barrels and pump organ must be said to be a solid sign of health. In addition to making monster songs such as the title track "Evig pint" and the opening song "Di grind", they are among the very few other than the rapists who currently seem to think that it makes any sense to sing in Norwegian. And the lyrics can in themselves be worth a study, they have a level of originality on a par with the music.
Midnight Choir, on the other hand, is in a more beautiful and magnificent landscape, at times gloomy as Nick Cave at his worst, at other times experimental and dangerous. It is all packed with strings, choirs and one of Norway's most accomplished vocalists, Paal Flaata. A single album.
And so far we are only two months into the new year.
