I was staggered to discover that we have not had a Playlist at all this year. To prevent this one being too long I’ve restricted it to 15 songs we’ve featured between April and July so many good ones have had to be left out, but here you are anyway.
You can of course read the full review of all of these songs on Nordic Music Central.
Here we go –
Valerie Melina – ‘Death of Me’
Valerie was only here a few days ago but I couldn’t compile this playlist without including this perfect intelligent pop song in which she ponders whether the insane crush she has on ‘Mr Right’ will be the death of her.
Orkid – ‘Where Flowers Grow’
Orkid, not Our Kid, pays tribute to her mum with a mélange of beauty and sadness.
Israelson – ‘Brother’
“It has an opening passage that might be a Mike Oldfield cut which then morphs into a passable guitar riff impersonation of ‘Wonderwall’.
Braunbeer – Zombie
An extravagant exponent of EDM who covers The Cranberries here as only he can.
Nils Bloch – Echoes Apart
“It sounds like something Paul Simon might write about and there is a Simon-like quality about it.”
Tulle – Can’t be saved
The first of two 2024 NMC features from the Queen of Death Pop with the strapline ‘Grief is Heavy. Grief is Eternal.’ All hope is gone.
Recoilette – Venus & the Moon
A polymath who explores the archived emotional crossroads where Twin Peaks meets Nordic noir.
Touching Grace – Virtue
“Be warned, that melody will reel you in and you won’t easily escape its clutches.”
Mansfield – London Riots
The Danish Mersey-beaters smash up the capital; from the album ‘For all the right reasons’
FER – Away from me
“She has probably the most attractive female voice I’ve heard coming out of Finland since I discovered Stina Koistinen, and that was almost a decade ago.”
Ungh – Meningsløs (Meaningless)
“I was caught off guard by her vocal, which comes in like a steamroller from the very first bar and with the powerful tone of an older and seasoned performer. One that likes a whisky to go with her cigarette.”
Slagger Lund – Jukebox (Jeg lytter til New Order)
“Pardon me for repeating myself but there aren’t enough characters in the music business like Slagger Lund”.
Maliika – Daydreaming
Maliika, the Swedish voice of the moment and sometime Ice Cream seller ponders the greatness and beauty of our vast universe
Drea – Let Go (from the EP Letters to my bitter self)
“You can’t help but fall for a song which begins with ‘Life is just a game collecting points/ and I don’t have the manual for all the do’s and don’ts’.”
A Treehouse Wait – ICCY (also a track from the album Kaleidoscope)
“The song soars like a hot air balloon that’s been primed with the heat from a volcano from the opening moments and doesn’t come down again until the end.”
