I’m afraid we’re rapidly back into ‘doubling up’ territory as the releases pile up after the Scandi Summer break.
Two tonight, one each from Sweden and Denmark tonight and they stand in contrast, songs from Young Sea and Sylfide.
Young Sea (Sweden) – Mahogany (single/track from released album) + video
Young Sea is Erik Rogland Harutunian, from the south of Sweden, a new kid on the block in the world of indie-folk. His forte is examining the gap (or gulf) between happiness and sadness as he does on this track, ‘Mahogany’ from his recent album ‘And the Birds will sing’, and which he does by way of a genuine video kitchen session, where he might have posted his holiday snaps by the look of it.
The song was prompted by him thinking about getting older although he still looks youthful to me. He says, “Mahogany is about realising you’re aging and that there are days that repeat between the sun and the moon, looking back to the inaccessible past but above all – remembering all the moments that have filled your life with memories.”
I’m guessing that sun and moon represent happy days and sad ones, which are sometimes identifiable as time goes by and at other times just blur into one amorphous mass.
This is a simplified version of the album track, which also includes a trumpet part but Erik demonstrates that he has the ability to attract attention and retain it in a live setting, even singing with only a couple of plants for company and I’m betting that is the way he will be making his name in the following months.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553691130395
Sylfide (Denmark) – Mit Brudestykke (My Bridal Piece) – single + video
Sylfide (Helene Tungelund) is a different kettle of fish altogether.
She wrote this song ‘Mit Brudestykke’ (My Bridal Piece) after the Consent Law was passed in Denmark, in January 2021.
(The title refers to, let’s say, some unusual bridal traditions on the Danish island of Fanø, which sounds like it should be twinned with our very own Royston Vasey in the dark comedy TV series The League of Gentlemen. They become more evident in the video).
The law requires both parties to give consent before sexual intercourse, clarifying that sex without consent is rape and that the law protects an individual’s right to their body and sexual autonomy.
The law was the result of years of campaigning by survivor groups and I’m sure I’ve come across other Danish artists who had something to say on this subject. Lydmor for example comes to mind. It has liberated women from what appears to have been an oppressive regime previously, one that, frankly, I find hard to imagine.
I was attracted by a comment in GAFFA, which I should regard as a rival although realistically I’m in the Sunday Pub League compared to their Premier League, which read “this should be on the Danish school schedule.”
Now I’m not averse to making comments like that myself so I had to check out the artist and song. Because it’s in Danish and the only word of that language I know is Carlsberg I can’t go into detail about the lyrics, which gets right to the heart of what still remains a debate in Denmark where old Viking habits seemingly die hard.
But I can about the music. Mit Brudestykke is written in a medieval, baroque style, one of the most peculiar electro-acoustic mixes I’ve heard and one that is very effective. The verses have been created with what sounds like a metronome keeping time and a floor sweeping sound, suggesting a sort of regulated (UK) Victorian setting, an Upstairs Downstairs or a Bronte novel where the master of the house gets and takes what he wants when he wants it and her voice is aptly plaintive.
It reminds me, both in verse and structure of Emmy the Great’s ‘A Woman, a Woman, a Century of Sleep.’
The choruses in contrast, especially the second one, are redolent of a sense of relief, of a newfound freedom, with a cacophony of weird instrument sounds that collectively trumpet ‘freedom’.
I don’t know if any of that was the intention but that is the impact it has on me.
The lyrics that have been translated hit hard:
“A night with him/became my millennial shame
He took while I slept/he took without being allowed
But now I have woken up.”
There are many ways of tackling the subject matter of this song. Katy Perry’s latest comeback single did for feminism generally and all artists need to be wary of not sounding hackneyed and dated when dealing with these issues as even the #MeToo movement starts to come under scrutiny.
But the way Sylfide has tackled this song is exemplary, sophisticated and indicative of a bright future. She should be on that school curriculum in several ways.
I’d like to hear an English version of the song. Even though Danish laws and traditions might go over the heads of a foreign audience it is so well written that it would make an impact, I’m certain of that.
Find her on:
Website: https://sylfide.com/english.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sylfidemusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sylfidemusic/
