King Hüsky (Vidar Landa) is the guitarist and a songwriter for Norwegian metal band Kvelertak, now making his debut as a solo artist. I was quite happy to feature some metal tonight but what I discovered instead blew me away.
You can bring every metal detector in the world here but you won’t find any. Instead, what is on offer is a fun guitar song, about as far away from last night’s feature by The Below as you can get and what is pretty close to being a perfect pop song.
I don’t say things like that readily but I’d class it right up there with the likes of ‘They don’t know’ (especially the Tracey Ullman version), or ‘Electric Dreams’ and all those other guilty pleasures we harbour.
Closer to home, perhaps A-ha’s ‘Take on me’ might be a better example.
At heart the story is merely that of a runner who can’t stop running even those his knees hurt and he just “keeps on running some more”. To pass time, and keep the darkness away.
What’s he running from? Just life. The monotony. The first thing he does in the morning is to check the online obituary notices, presumably to make sure he isn’t listed there.
In another life he could be a Kafkaesque character or a Sartre or Camus designed figure, with existential qualities.
Or he could be that character, the slacker Hlynur Björn, in 101 Reykjavik. Except he didn’t run anywhere.
But I wouldn’t lose too much sleep pondering the deeper meaning over a pint of CAMRA-approved bitter down your local pub.
Just enjoy it for what it is. A bloody good pop song. A TUNE.
I thought I’d link the video instead of the Spotify track. It’s almost Inspector Clouseau-like. A work of mad genius.
King Hüsky’s debut album is set to be released in May 2025 via Norwegian indie label Hype City Music. The album was recorded in Landa’s hometown Stavanger, Norway with Anne Lise Frøkedal (now she can write a song) and a band made up by his friends Børge Fjordheim and Arthur Berning.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vidar.landa (Vidar Landa – there are two ‘King Husky’s’ on Facebook, one a comedian, the other a dog breeder. No comment).
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vidarlanda/
