They just keep on coming. You’d think it was Christmas.
Birds are Better (Norway) – Angels of the Snow
First off is Norway’s Birds are Better (Stian Fjeldall) with ‘Angels of the Snow’, a charming little ditty that suits children and adults alike and which concerns a forlorn snow man, who looks like a frozen Worzel Gummidge in the lyric video here.
He’s “stuck in a life determined by the cold”. And in sub-zero Britain right now I know just how he feels.
But Worzel is saved by the intervention of a ‘Sparkling Angel of the Snow’ – Blue, the daughter of the mighty God of Ice, who comes to tell him that ‘Winter is forever now, and so is Love’ and who appears as a flash of glitter not that dissimilar to the one on Of Monsters and Men’s ‘King and Lionheart’ video. In fact it could be an OMAM song.
He’s a clever guy, Stian Fjeldall. You could show this video repeatedly on Christmas Eve to the little kiddies to enthrall and calm them before THE BIG DAY.
Brilliant.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birdsarebetter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StianFjelldal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stianfjelldal/
Eva Hillered (Sweden) – Den största gåvan
When Eva Hillered was last here, back in August, she was singing an acoustic love ballad that relates interpersonal love to love as a universal force bonding all human beings, animals, and nature. She envisaged love as something that suddenly can occur as a beautiful flower unfolding between people.
Now she pops up with a Christmas carol, ‘Den största gåvan’, which translates as ‘The Greatest Gift’ and of which she says, “Love is a worn word. But I wanted to describe in this carol the kind of deep love that goes on and grows with the years. The love that can embrace everyman with light and darkness.”
Unfortunately I don’t have access to the lyrics to translate. Musically, Eva seems to have watered down her Americana style a little for this release and it takes the form of a subdued, restrained pop anthem, a tribute to her husband, who appears in the video.
Eva just released her eighth solo album ‘New Me’.
Find her on:
Website: https://www.evahillered.se/english-summary/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvaHillered
Twitter: https://twitter.com/evahillered
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evahillered/
GLIMTVIS (Denmark) – Nothing left to blame
Finally for today we have a December song which is decidedly not a Christmas song. We’ve had a couple of those already and there will be more. They deserve to be heard. Christmas is hard for some people. And then on 27th December the blame game starts and heralds in the New Year. I remember a cracking one that was released by Poly Styrene just before her death, the reggae track ‘Black Christmas’, which I might try to find space for later.
This one is by GLIMTVIS, (Rikke Egholm Ravn and Rasmus Pedersen) who were last here in August with ‘Weren’t we just dancing’, a title full of irony in which they turned their attention to “the difficult dating life in adulthood.”
For their non-Christmas song, the despondent-sounding ‘Nothing left to blame’, they say, “GLIMTVIS writes songs that move in the schizophrenic borderland between shameless pop, raw honest country and the unpolished voice of rock, and which tell personal stories about life and love, when trying to behave in adulthood. And on ‘Nothing left to blame’ it is the rock sound that is allowed to shine through.”
They continue “The song explores a deserted place where an arising pain does not seem to have a cause. About the frustration of not having anyone or anything to blame – and seeking redemption in defeat and pain”. Wow. Desolate or what? They aren’t coming to my party. It’s like watching Manchester United this season.
It is most certainly a powerful rock song and that power actually descends into an anthem of desolation by the end that is oddly stirring.
Oh and it channels another (more positive) song, another anthem, so closely but I just can’t identify it. Any suggestions – use the comments box.
‘Nothing left to blame’ was released on 1st December. Blame GLIMTVIS, not me! I’m just the messenger!
GLIMTVIS is on its way to Nashville in February 2024 and has co-writing sessions with seven different American songwriters, as well as the release of an EP in March, which is supported by a release tour with a band – a new live experience for GLIMTVIS, which has previously played as a duo.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glimtvis
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glimtvis.music/
