This is the best yet hardest job I do every year, compiling the Songs of the Year list because so many have to be left out.
The fundamental mantra remains: They have to be good to be in NMC in the first place.
This year the list has been expanded to a Top 40, out of several hundred, with a Top 5 at the end. Other than the Top 5 there is no formal countdown of the other 35; they are merely listed alphabetically.
I continue to be amazed at the quality of songwriting in the Nordic countries. The Head of Music for the BBC should be required by law to go through this list, one by one and to understand.
I’m trying to embrace as many styles as possible here, as well as a geographical spread. Notably there was quite a lot of prog rock this year – it seems to be making a comeback.
Please read the original articles for more information on the artists!
Featured artists are:
| Amilost | Braunbeer | drea | FER | Fie Eike |
| Forwardman | GØ | Kalandra | Last Plane Out | Lehnberg |
| Lights of Skadi | Maliika | Mansfield | Marble Raft | Marko Hietala |
| Marte Eberson | Me & Munich | Mia Dae | Nathav | Orkid |
| Patrick el Hag | Peppermint B | Pikes | RABO | Raging Lines |
| Rebekka Louise | Recoilette | Red Cell | Selma French | Slagger Lund |
| Somewhere | Theresa Rex | Tulle | Ungh | Valerie Melina |
| (5) A Treehouse Wait | (4) Das Body | (3) Johanna Brun | (2) Stinako | (1) Nightwish |
Amilost (Norway) – Tiny War (pop)
I can’t stop listening to this, one of the surprises of the year from Amilost, a Norwegian-Scottish duo for whom the Norwegian (Sigrid Zeiner-Gundersen) is the main writer. She wrote ‘Tiny War’ on the very day a romantic relationship ended. It is a return to their “signature Scandi-pop sound” and isn’t the first time they’ve tackled relationships and their termination.
There’s sharp lyricism on show (“We wore each other paper thin/sanded down the grains so we could stick together” and “I don’t know how to love you anymore/I don’t know how to come back from another tiny war”) and musically it sandwiches a multi-tracked vocal/synthesiser section which ends with what sounds like the siren of an ambulance speeding to pick up the pieces of this moribund relationship, between two parts of a ballad.
Then the outro combines a forceful vocal statement from Sigrid with powerful piano, strings and drums.
It’s a bold declaration to make but I’ll do it anyway. ‘Tiny War’ says as much in a little over three minutes as some achieve on an entire album.
They might be lost but they’ll be found soon enough.
It came very close to a Top 5 position.
Braunbeer (Sweden) [ft. Dana Bloom] Zombie (cover) (EDM)
Braunbeerhas a similar visual trademark to Norway’s Alan Walker with his hoodie.
We rarely feature covers and I reckon some people might consider it sacrilegious to cover The Cranberries. But I believe there will be plenty that applaud him for doing it and bringing a new perspective to the song.
And after all it was a complete departure from The Cranberries’ usual more sugary style to offer up a grungy rock track as a third party apology from Ireland to the people of Warrington for an IRA bomb atrocity that killed children in the first place so why not give it a fresh lick of paint now as EDM?
In fact I would argue that his wild, random, chaotic opening is probably more in tune with the theme of the song than the original one. And Dana’s high pitched voice, like Iselin Solheim on helium, reminds us that the victims were so young.
drea (Norway) – Let Go (Bedroom pop)
I really enjoy introspective, self-deprecatory stuff like this.
drea, out of Bergen, aka Andrea Ådland,is a debutant into the business as a solo singer-songwriter although she has an impressive pantheon of work as a backing singer.
‘Let Go’ is a track from her debut EP, ‘Letters to my bitter self’. The lyricism is wonderful. 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.
That, and the manner in which she delivers it, and the time signature, is right out of the Fiona Apple song book, allied to the storytelling mastery of Steady Holiday.
Over the last few years I’ve heard most of the new kids on the block who have gone on to make it big in Norway – your Auroras, Sigrids, Dagnys, girl in reds and so on, and those that are on the fringe. I don’t think for a minute that drea will be on the fringe of anything for long.
FER (Finland) – Away from me (Pop)
One of the pleasures of doing this job is that you occasionally come across someone – an artist or a band – that neither you, nor probably anyone else, have heard of, and they club you to the floor like a Mike Tyson uppercut.
This is FER’s (Jennifer Markin) third single from an EP that will surface in the autumn.
The song concerns anxiety and taking time out to care for your mental health.
Musically, the piece hangs on synthesised notes and chords that sound a little like an accordion, the saddest of instruments, and an intriguing beat that mirrors the one in the chorus of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time after time’.
In the final minute the tempo and volume pick up dramatically into a mini anthem. It works a treat and one of the reasons is that it shows off FER’s ability to belt out high notes consistently.
It’s pretty damn catchy, too.
There have been several female vocalists I’ve identified as ones to watch this year and I strongly suggest you add FER to them.
Fie Eike (Denmark) – The Nile (indie/dark pop)
Here’s something a little dark from Fie Eike, a composer, songwriter and producer,who invites listeners to find the courage to welcome the darkness, both internal and external, rather than flee from it; to be curious about what lies within it instead of hiding behind the couch.
I won’t bandy around adjectives like ‘ethereal’ which are over-used and have become meaningless but ‘The Nile’ is distinctly dark and foreboding. It would suit a Ghost Train funfair ride or perhaps one of the sketches in the 1990s British TV noir comedy series The League of Gentlemen.
And there’s something mildly erotic about it too.
The ending is quite sublime as her voice drip, drip, drops a couple of octaves in a matter of seconds.
Forwardman (Finland) – Soho Fugitive (rock/punk)
You never know quite what you’re going to get from Forwardman (Sakari Viittala and his band).
They can write and play a wide range of style options which have previously encompassed ballads and Britpop.
On ‘Soho Fugitive’, the second digital single from their fourth album, ‘Stranded Future Soho Fugitive,’ they shift into a hard rock/punk persona, with distinct shades of The Jam or The Clash (think particularly of ‘London Calling’.)
They seem to have a thing about London. The song is set in the darkest recesses of its dodgy central district sandwiched between grubby, down at heel Leicester Square and shoppers’ paradise Oxford Street by way of Theatre land.
Forwardman are good at painting a picture of life lived on the Soho edge; it’s almost gangsterish.
It belts along at a pace from the start and they cleverly up the tempo between the first and second verses into an unexpected climax as if to signify that’s how quickly you could be caught by the Old Bill, or cop for a bullet or a slash of a knife if you make a bad move.
It might be a song from ‘The Bill’ or ‘Life on Mars’ or other such 1970s/80s British cop dramas.
Forwardman’s talent is abstract but it is talent all the same.
GØ (Faroe Islands) – Ævir, amen (title track from album) (Jazz/Prog)
A country that has the population of a British suburb produces some remarkable musicianship, and across a multitude of genres and styles. The Faroe Islands never cease to surprise me.
Tórshavn (the capital) bases GØ represents the jazz end of the spectrum, one that we have only infrequently encountered thus far in those islands.
Ævir, amen’ (‘Forever Amen’, which sounds like a metal band), is described as a concept album (you don’t find many of those these days), which examines “the poignant cultural and political dynamics of the Faroe Islands”, including Denmark’s influence over the Faroes and particularly the continuing debate around self-governance.
‘Ævir, amen’ starts off with an approximation of the theme to The Twilight Zone, putting you on edge straight away. Then it morphs into what I’d describe as very 1970s sexy TV drama murder mystery music, thence moody and magnificent Nordic Noir music.
By the time it plays out ‘Ævir, amen’ has shifted on again, this time into classic 1970s prog. A real tour de force.
Kalandra (Norway) – Are you ready? (single/album track) (rock)
When we reviewed Kalandra previously, right back in Nov-2021 just after we started NMC, itwas identified as an alt-pop band. That tenuous description might have fitted the gentle piece then that was ‘With you’ but ‘Are you ready?’ belongs in a different ballpark altogether.
They take on such a different collective persona with this song compared to the previous one that it might be another band altogether.
Not at first though, as it gets underway with the same passive, soothing acoustic guitar. Then right on the minute mark childish things are put away and it rapidly morphs into a solid rocker, aided by neo-metal percussion that increases in intensity in a until it becomes a battering ram and abetted by what sounds like a legion of guitars.
So, are you ready?
Last Plane Out (Sweden) – All Fools’ Day (single) (Soft Rock/Prog Rock)
Last Plane Out is a duo, of Nils Erikson (Malmö), and Anders Lundquist (Stockholm) and Nils has a ‘Genesis connection’ in that he spent many years as the pianist and co-lead singer of the progressive rock band Karmakanic, led by longtime Steve Hackett bassist, Jonas Reingold.
Having been raised on 1970s prog, it’s always good to hear something new and fresh and especially if it’s coming out of Sweden where the sprit has been kept alive.
The instantly catchy and attention-grabbing ‘All fool’s day’ immediately invokes Phil Collins’ ‘More fool me’ on Genesis’ ‘Selling England by the Pound’ album in 1974, and indeed Nils’ voice initially is quite similar to that of Collins.
This song is absolutely riddled with melody and hooks, from beginning to end, ebbing and flowing like all good prog songs should do while never departing entirely from a mainstream pop vibe, and even containing a rising section that might have been taken from ‘MacArthur Park’.
Frankly, it’s got everything and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it on Radio 2 here in the UK; it ticks all the boxes where Britain’s biggest radio station is concerned.
Lehnberg (Sweden) No News (single) (Ambient/EDM)
(David) Lehnberg has had more bands than I’ve had hot dinners, the most notable probably being the incomparable The Deer Tracks with Elin Lindfors (now Skeppstedt), and in 2024 he was in one of his periodic solo moods with this enigmatic piece, ‘No News’.
The philosophy behind ‘No News’ is simple enough to Lehnberg:
”According to the media, the world is made up of hate, violence, and suffering. It’s like someone forced you to watch horror movies all day, every day. Expose yourself to this doomsday bias regularly, and it will shape how you think and feel. You will get angry and suspicious. But most of all, you’ll end up afraid. Fortunately, it’s reversible. When you stop watching the news, you will soon experience less anger, less anxiety, and less sadness. It’s one of the easiest ways to protect your peace.”
The song opens portentously with big chords over fast snappy percussion before progressing into what could be a theme to Arnie’s Running Manmovie, that character Buzzsaw closing in on Arnie and his jogging mate Amber with evil intent.
A variety of electronic and vocal effects join in until about 75% of the way through its collapses into a beautiful soft instrumental/vocal harmony to play it out; the sort of thing that might belong in the closing credits to the film Cocoon.
If the objective was to contrast the insanity of ‘the news’ with the tranquility of ‘no news’ then it works a treat.
Lights of Skadi (Sweden) – Book of Dead (Orchestral version) (single/future EP track) (Prog metal)
The name ‘Lights of Skadi’ references Norse mythology.
Lights ofSkadi’s background and influences lie in ‘prog metal’, a concoction made in Heaven under the right circumstances I reckon.
Their orchestral versions of songs are inspired by composers such as Hans Zimmer and Ashton Gleckman.
‘Book of Dead (Orchestral Version)’ isn’t quite what I was anticipating. Ominous chords introduce what must count amongst the most cinematic productions ever written.
It’s the music to ‘the Greatest Story Never Told’. I strongly suggest you read the original review!
And play it loud.
It got close to a Top 5 rating.
Maliika (Sweden) Daydreaming (single) (pop)
The renowned Swedish ice cream seller returned this year with another of those dreamy pop songs at which she excels.
I’ve previously remarked how easily she can create atmosphere and marveled at the purity of her voice, pondering if she might have had operatic training somewhere along the line. It might just be all the ice cream I assume she eats; she has a parlour at the Swedish seaside. How cool is that?
‘Daydreaming’ is, she says, “a reflection on the greatness and beauty of our vast universe. Our earthly life is over in a moment, but we are forever part of the constant movement of the beautiful cosmic artwork.”
Her vocal control is fantastic. Just listen to the way she sings “Powerful” and then, a few seconds later, “fragile”. Not just for the contrast; they are practically onomatopoeic.
And then there’s that high-pitched scream at the end which is simply off the register and which I’m certain owes absolutely nothing to autotune.
I had to single out the voice in Sweden right now I would have to plump for Maliika.
Another that got close to a Top 5 rating.
Mansfield (Denmark) – Someone Else (album track) (retro Brit Pop)
There are no better exponents of Merseybeat and Britpop in Denmark than Mansfield (and there are quite a few other bands doing that!)
What Mansfield amounts to is a potted history of contemporary British music over the latter half of the 20th century.
In fact what they created should ultimately become an exhibit in a museum of contemporary history, or perhaps a vinyl version of their second album, ‘For all the right reasons’, from which ‘London Riots’ is taken, should be included in one of those packages we occasionally blast into space for the delectation of inquisitive aliens living light years away, as a précis of the music of several Earth eras.
None of that is to say that any of Mansfield’s work is derivative. The underlying stylisation is there for sure but their product is unashamedly all theirs. They aren’t so much re-writing these eras as redefining them.
There is no obviously stand out track for me on an all-round excellent album but the Oasis-like chords and delivery of ‘Someone else’ is the one that resonated most with me.
Marble Raft (Sweden) – Rites of Passage (single/future album track) (Experimental electro pop)
“Exploration pop from the tundra of the Stockholm archipelago” is the mantra of the Swedish duo Marble Raft.
They’ve been on the scene since 2021 when they released the album ‘Geography A’. The single ‘Rites of Passage’ is the first cut from the album ‘Dear Infrastructure’, which will see the light of day in the spring of 2025.
The title ‘Dear Infrastructure’ is indicative of the meaning of the album – a trip into the dark recesses of a new to them and cold and unwelcoming city. Not only that, it is one where animals have taken over, where cars wander aimlessly like the humans used to, and where lush vegetation covers the skyscrapers.
A sort of sub-net zero I suppose.
Meanwhile in ‘Rites of Passage’ the two teenage arrivals are checking out the city, seeking out a starting point for their exploration.
It’s an opulent, synth-driven piece which struck me as a gentler, 2020s approximation of some of the tracks on Genesis’ 1970s ‘The Lamb lies down on Broadway’, another excursion undertaken bravely into a weird and wonderful place and another rite of passage.
Marko Hietala (Finland) (ft. Tarja Turunen) – Left on Mars (single) (Rock)
Ex Nightwish bassist and supporting vocalist Marko Hietala had been fairly quiet since quitting that band early in 2021 apart from winning the Finnish version of The Masked Singer, but resurfaced dramatically in March of this year with the single ’Left on Mars’ on which he reunites with Nightwish’s founder member and original vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was dismissed from the band in 2006.
Arguably the two greatest voices in metal, together again.
I think it’s fair to say that many Nightwish fans have long suspected that of all the band members Hietala was probably the one to show sympathy for the predicament Turunen had found herself in and this seems to be a reconciliation that has grown in significance since this song was released with multiple joint live appearances.
I don’t think for a second that a shared interest in astronomy or films starring Matt Damon influenced the writing of this song. If anything it might be Hietala’s version of ‘Solsbury Hill’ after Peter Gabriel left Genesis:
“Do you know (Do you know?)/That my heart still holds the rage, no
And I’ve turned page after page/I never chose (Never chose) to be an Alien, no
I’m just looking for a home (I’m just looking for a home)/I’m just looking for a home
I know I’m better left on Mars.”
Although it must be stated that Hietala himself has put a different interpretation on it.
Musically, I get a vibe which draws me towards ‘Endlessness’, which Hietala, soloing on it on Nightwish’s album ‘Human :II: Nature’, never got to sing live.
And there’s a simple but killing two chord progression which will slay you.
To cap it all the accompanying video is directed by Ville Lipiäinen, who has been responsible for most of Nightwish’s classic live show videos.
Where rock goes, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Marte Eberson (Norway) – Adore You (live single) (alt pop)
Marte Eberson also had a quiet year in 2024, the previous two being taken up with a raft of single releases and her first album in six years, ‘Free.’
But early in January she did release a live-recorded single, ‘Adore You’, from her album release show at Parkteatret in Oslo, in November 2023.
It is her only release this year that I am aware of, but a new album is on the way, I believe. ‘Adore You’ didn’t make the cut for ‘Free’, which is a pity because it portrays a particularly strong and almost Edith Piaf-like singing voice that I hadn’t heard from her before; an authority I haven’t encountered since her days as (inter alia) a backing vocalist in Highasakite.
I should have been at that gig but had to miss it and I hope we get a chance to hear this song live again, soon.
‘Adore You’ is a little unusual for Marte in that there is typically an underlying sense of uncertainty in her songs, a guarded yet reckless approach towards love and relationships. But here you know who wears the pants.
And the backing band is top class.
It got close to a Top 5 rating.
Me & Munich (Denmark) – Rumination (single/album track) (rock)
The marvelously titled Me and Munich is technically a duo, with Jan Steiniche Petersen on vocals and rhythm guitar and Michael Tagesen on lead guitar, bass and backing vocals, with drums provided by Andreas Linnemann).
The song, a single which precedes their third album, which is released this month, concerns the human propensity for ‘Rumination’: getting lost in your own thoughts and worries, resulting in self-destructive torment and “losing the pulse of life in the present moment.”
It starts off like an XTC track, sort of punk-lite; in fact if I’d gone in blind I would have said it was the Swindon lads.
Then about half way through it picks up a memorable melody line but only for a short time before it gets lost in a maelstrom of flailing guitar notes (and some neat syncopation between the two guitars I might add). That’s a shame. Had they perpetuated that melody this would have been a sure fire winner.
It’s still pretty good as it is – yet more top class rock from Denmark.
Mia Dae (Denmark) – My next mistake (single) (rock)
When we listened to Mia Dae’s debut single ‘Break you first’ back in June it was immediately evident that she’s got balls – well, metaphorically speaking at least – and knows how to look after herself; and that was evident from the title alone.
Sometimes you’ll hear a debut like that but then the follow up track disappointingly fizzles out.
Not so with Ms Dae (Mia Dalager) but in ‘My next mistake’ she shows her softer side and deals with surrendering yourself to physical attraction and entering into a passionate relationship even though you already know that it probably will lead to heartache. That, in the end, it will just be another mistake.
The entire production is so classy that (and no disrespect intended to Denmark) I could easily believe this is the product of top US session musicians as well as a star singer.
As for Mia, the last time out I compared her to Suzi Quatro and Kim Wilde. I’ll add Joan Jett into the bargain this time.
In fact she could probably start up another 80s revival with songs like this.
To paraphrase her strapline, you’ve never met a girl like Mia.
This lady will make waves in the rock business. And I can’t see her making many mistakes.
Nathav (Denmark) – You still miss her (single/EP track) (dark electro pop/ballad)
With Nathav (‘Night Sea’ in Danish), her business is potent dark electronic pop with, here at least, a heavy dose of blues.
The song we’re looking at, ‘You still miss her’, was the first of two singles off the four-track EP ‘Moon River’, which was released at the end of November, promising “a deluge of misfortune and doomed love affairs – with a hint of the unbearable lightness of being” which I interpret as indicating a Bohemian existentialist flavour to it.
It sounds like it’s going to be a soppy ballad but ‘You still miss her’ is anything but that. Nathav feels inadequate as she stands in the shadow of a previous love of the object of her affections, perhaps having dithered and moved in too late, addressing herself in the second person.
‘You still miss her’ is presented as a musical form you don’t often hear, what might be called ‘electro blues’. It’s silky and smooth, it might have come out of the mouth of Ella Fitzgerald or Aretha Franklin as it builds around an asymmetrical metre played on the piano.
Then about half way through a battalion of synthesisers enter the fray and when they twice reach a crescendo, allied to Nathav’s piercing, pitch perfect, soprano, they could blow your head off if you don’t moderate your headset.
It’s so unusual to hear a composition like this these days that its impact will take a couple of hearings to sink in properly.
Nils Bloch (Denmark) – Echoes Apart (single/album track) (alt pop)
When Nils Bloch first appeared in NMC I couldn’t help but compare him with smooth US rock-popster Dean Friedman as he channeled his meaningful yet sentimental ballads perfectly.
This one, ‘Echoes Apart’, which is also the third and final single from his debut album, ‘From my armor’, is deeper as it “explores the experience of being raised as a man in a patriarchal society. Learning how to hide the fragility and insecurity we recognise in ourselves and others and how this can lead us to feel contempt for it, rather than allowing it to connect us and create compassion…thus turning into anger or a desperate need for domination.”
It sounds like something Paul Simon might write about and there is a Simon-like quality about it.
Musically, the song hangs on a simple but memorable guitar melody of the sort that wouldn’t sound out of place in a softer Genesis or Peter Gabriel song, supplemented by echo-y choral sections backed by synthesisers which add to rather than detract from the message.
Lyrically, it’s a taxing piece that requires concentration as he employs imagery from a war and conflict vocabulary as that is suggestive of the distancing we employ which reduces other people to the status of competitors or enemies rather than fellow human beings.
Where there is no doubt at all – again – is his commanding delivery of the song, which in its complexity and resolve could be a Shakespearean soliloquy, set to music.
Orkid (Sweden) – Where flowers grow (single/future EP title track) (Melancholic pop)
Orkid was known as a Scandi-pop stylist, but has moved on, partly by way of the experience gained from writing with other artists and songwriters in Europe and the US but mainly due to the impact of the passing of her mother.
The nascent EP ‘Where Flowers grow’, is a tribute to mum and has previously been the source of two singles, ‘Proud’, and ‘Bed of Roses’. This is another single from it, the title track, and was conceived after she visited her mother’s grave, a trip which spawned the lyric “where flowers grow.”
‘Bed of Roses’ told the story of her parents’ last day together while in this one she reflects on the intermingling of different sensations and emotions at the graveside – of beauty and sadness – that she perceives in such experiences.
And of course, Orkid, the orchid is known as a funeral flower, symbolising everlasting love for the deceased.
It is that odd mélange of beauty and sadness that she tries to – and succeeds in – purveying here.
The theme is simply that the deceased can never be alone where flowers grow, even that, in one graphic line, that she feels she is “buried alive” with the loved one, and it works perfectly.
‘Where Flowers grow’ was co-written with LEW, who also provides backing vocals in the same sensitive way Tom Fleming of Wild Beasts used to do for Emmy the Great. It’s all rather sumptuous.
This is one of two such family tribute songs in 2024’s NMC Song of the Year. The other (see later) won it.
Patrick el Hag (Sweden) Hertigen av Brandgul (focus track from the album Historien om Brödraskapet) (video) (experimental music)
We get to play a very wide range of songs on NMC and to show an equally wide range of videos to go with them.
Some are pure pop, at one end of the scale, while others are like miniature works of art and this is one of them.
Patrick el Hag occupies the Swedish musical underworld, the more experimental end of contemporary Swedish music along with others that are equally off the wall like Solblomma, who featured in the 2023 Best Songs list.
Patrick has established himself already as a serious musician, a philosopher and a storyteller par excellence.
It’s hard to categorise him beyond that except to say that he is a sort of loose interwoven image of the likes of Jon Anderson from Yes, Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, and Adam Ant, to which he adds the sort of darkness you didn’t know existed in Sweden, where it isn’t all bibbity bobbity Agnetha.
The album ‘Historien om Brödraskapet’ has nothing to do with Gulliver’s Travels; it translates as ‘The Story of the Brotherhood’ and is the title of the concept album El-Hag has dreamed about realising since the first staging in 1991. It took him 34 years fully to complete a work that lasts 34 minutes. That’s an equation of statistical brilliance.
There are no half measures in the track ‘Hertigen av Brandgul’ or any of his work. Everything seems to be meticulously worked through, whether it’s the lyricism, the style of music – which is a sort of baroque madrigal in parts and black metal without the metal in others – or the mystifying video which attacks you with multiple images that don’t quite add up.
Peppermint B (Denmark) – Melody Maker (album title track) (pop)
Steffen Westmark, aka Peppermint B is the front man of the rock band The Blue Van, but here Westmark has ventured into a more introspective and indie-influenced pop sound with this solo project.
And here’s a thing – as a songwriting mentor at a music academy, he has closely observed his students, and their experiences have left a clear imprint on both the lyrics and the sound. The pupil influences the teacher. That’s not what you normally find at a music school, I hear.
‘Melody Maker’, the title of one of the two main weekly music magazines when I was a student, is a cracker.
With its jangly guitars, a U2 like beat and riff, powerful hooks, a message (the artist fights for peace and freedom in a chaotic world) and a bright sunny vocal, enhanced by the presence of a former student of his, Stella (Sophie Darum), who has all the hallmarks of Sweden’s Elliphant, this song has ‘hit’ plastered all over it.
Pikes (Sweden) – Restless Lover (single) (electro pop)
All those nights spent getting arthritis of the hands checking out potential dates on Tinder must be getting to
Pikes.
I read in Tinder’s PR that they’ve made 55 billion matches to date. But Pikes (Christoffer Ling) isn’t one of them. His song ‘Restless Lover’ is about app-dating generally and the fear of being alone. I assume that by ‘alone’ he means fear of not being able to find someone or of no-one responding to him as the initiator. Perhaps a loveless wrestler; they are both singing from the same hymn sheet.
I reckon Pikes hits the nail right on the head with this song. I recall a similar one from Alex Rex here in the UK, an avowed Tinder swipe basher down on his luck, but that was in his inimitable faux-miserable, off the wall style.
But in Pikes’ case, as usual he’s found a BIG TUNE yet again and straight out of the starting gate.
No sign of his usual influences here, the likes of Gabriel/Genesis (again), also Zappa and Bush. This is pure, unadulterated 1980s new wave. Love it.
RABO (Norway) – Talk to me (debut single) (pop)
RABO is Oslo-born but has travelled the world, working as a surfing instructor, before she was pandemic-ed back to Norway and discovered music.
It seems she started off by writing songs for others, including K-pop girl band Aespa, but soon yearned to hear her own voice.
And it is that voice which is her stand out feature on debut single ‘Talk to me’. While it isn’t unique it assuredly is unusual, a little like that of Sol Heilo in the more gravelly moments but otherwise as sweet as can be with a nice line in vibrato.
The song has both a 60s and an 80s feel to it, the former in a energetic bass line that is almost bebop and the latter by way of an arrangement that could have been made for the likes of Madge, Cyndi or Cher.
The line “waves are crashing” confirms that you can take the girl out of the surf but you can’t take the surf out of the girl.
I have a feeling that more than a few movers and shakers in the business will soon be talking to her.
Raging Lines (Norway) – Let me have this moment (single) (post punk/indie rock)
Raging Lines is Sondre Thomassen Thorvik. The Raging Lines project encompasses post-punk and dark indie rock modes with influences from the likes of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack and Johnny Cash. That’s Manchester to Memphis via Basildon and Bristol, and a huge variety of styles.
Sondre is currently a master’s student at the University of Oslo, focusing on music production and composition and he harbours a passion for creating his own distinctive tunes. Meanwhile he’s churning out songs like this one, ‘Let me have this moment’, which is definitely distinctive.
A lot of that individuality comes from an unusual baritone voice, when many young male artists these days seem to think they have to be hermaphrodites.
‘Let me have this moment’ is a very well put together creation in which you will definitely hear strong hints of Depeche Mode, but also, possibly, Iggy Pop.
It’s a ‘ships that pass in the night’, ‘Brief Encounter’ sort of song, a desire to have a lingering moment with someone who can never be part of a permanent liaison. An alternative take on the sentiments in ‘Take on me’ possibly?
I do believe we’ll be hearing much more of him.
Rebekka Louise (Norway) – It was beautiful (single) (pop ballad)
Rebekka Louise turned her attention to a topic from the land of lurve as Valentine’s Day approached, namely that “sometimes you must let something beautiful go, so you can learn to love yourself again” in the song ‘It was beautiful’.
It’s difficult to decipher the precise meaning but full comprehension of the lyrics isn’t required to appreciate this very well constructed song, which hangs on a disarmingly simple six note synthesiser melody in ascending and descending scale with piano left hand, the sort of thing that might accompany once of those revolving ornamental dolls that ‘dances’ for you, or a kiddies’ fairground ride perhaps.
Vocally and as with the previous release, she demonstrates her skill in cramming more words into a line than you’re expecting, with all the attendant phrasing that requires. I suppose it’s a bit like an author writing text in which the punch line is only available at the turn of a page or by scrolling down so it is always just out of reach.
It’s an enchanting piece that you’ll want to keep listening to.
Recoilette (Finland) – Venus and the Moon (single) (electro pop/synth)
Recoilette (Jukka Paajanen) is something of a musical polymath, having composed and performed with groups in various genres, from death metal to synth-pop, his versatile style being cinematic yet escapist, and somewhat at odds with the artistically binary world we inhabit.
What I hear in ‘Venus and the Moon’ is a sort of soft electro-pop ballad, a Pink Floyd-lite experience and it isn’t too hard to picture Arnold Layne wandering around in this odd vision of nature and cityscape that he paints, of simultaneous separation and integration; contrasts that are as different as chalk and cheese while bonded by being both being parts of “this same disjointed mess”.
That’s a pretty quick, loose interpretation of the song’s meaning. You can read whatever you like into it, including exactly what Venus and the Moon represent and what they are a jointly a catalyst to.
Musically, he knows how to retain your attention with pleasant but undemanding melodies while spicing it up with various noises off like little synth-generated laughs that remind me very much of the style of Sweden’s Skott, my go-to analogy for that sort of thing.
Red Cell (Sweden) Hollywood Darkness (synth pop)
The Stockholm synth pop pioneers Red Cell came up with the usual non-stop banger that we’ve come to expect from them but this time with a disturbing message about ‘Hollywood Darkness’.
The song takes aim at the darker arts of Hollywood rather than the street habits; the litany of sexual abuse. And it’s not just the sleaze, it’s the drugs and why they won’t work.
There’s a crushing chorus:
“Can you avoid the claws in the Hollywood darkness..?
Can you hide the tears…”
There’s incongruity between the unstated threat in the lyrics and the joyful, catchy way the song has been composed. But then incongruity is exactly what Hollywood is all about.
Incidentally, the vocal half of the duo, Jimmy Skeppstedt, is the husband of the aforementioned Elin, formerly of The Deer Tracks (see Lehnberg, above).
There’s a musical collective in central Sweden that would be the envy of many countries.
Selma French (Norway) – I think I knew (single) (rock)
Selma French (Bolstad)is already well known in the Norwegian folk scene and her music has recently featured as the theme song in the hit TV series Furia.
She’s a member of several bands including Frøkedal & Familien, Anne Lise Frøkedal being one of her inspirations along with Susanne Sundfør, which puts her in good company.
I don’t really know how to classify her. ‘I think I knew’ starts out as roughly devised jangly, around the campfire, guitar chords that sound like they’ve been recorded in a bathroom and supporting a ballad replete with soul.
It isn’t long before a panoply of instrumentation joins the fray including screaming guitars and it turns into a veritable rocker, with strong shades of psych thrown in for good music, while retaining the underlying acoustic guitar theme from beginning to end.
There’s an expansive guitar solo as well towards the end, with much shredding.
Vocally, while I don’t hear any of her inspirations I do hear the likes of Alela Diana and ex-Trembling Bells front woman Lavinia Blackwall and that is high praise indeed.
Slagger Lund (Denmark) – Jukebox (Jeg lytter til New Order) (single)
Slagger Lund occupies roughly the same space as Patrick el Hag (above), an experimenter inhabiting the fringe of society, a shadowy figure living on the edge. He would have made for a perfect Shakespearean character.
There aren’t enough characters in the music business like Slagger these days.
Having written a song about Danish football legend Brian Laudrup, he’s name-dropping again here, this time Manchester’s 1980s synth pop post-punk band New Order whom, his song ‘Jukebox (Jeg lytter til New Order)’ tells us, he listens to on that ‘Jukebox’ (in an Aarhus pub).
And it was one such late night session, when Slagger had probably polished off a few Carlsbergs, that he wrote this ditty, which again is a piece of poetry set to music and which is true to the mantra of the New Order song (‘True Faith’) that so occupied him – that life is about being yourself with everything that it implies: sadness, love, hurt and anxiety.
“I listen to New Order / I didn’t mean to hurt you”. You can’t beat that for abstract lyricism.
Slagger seems to be a sort of amalgam of Seasick Steve, Andy Capp (the Daily Mirror’s cartoon character from Hartlepool, who staggered home every might from the pub only to be hit over the head by a rolling pin wielded by his long suffering wife Flo), and Popeye.
I reckon a video is needed to appreciate Slagger properly.
Somewhere (Sweden) – Gomorrah never knows (single/album track) (prog rock)
I said in the introduction that there’s a lot of prog around at the moment and here’s another great example from Sweden’s Somewhere.
The 11-minute epic ‘Gomorrah never knows’, one of two songs of theirs that we featured this year, is pure 1970s prog.
It is loosely based on Jack Kerouac’s experiences with the beatnik and hippy counterculture movements in the 1960s and you sense that same stream of consciousness even in what is mainly an instrumental piece.
Whatever the meaning (and that is debatable, I invite you to read the full article), it is the sort of storyline that the old prog rockers would have loved. If you think of Genesis for example (and you will hear elements of that band in Somewhere’s work) with their tales of King Canute struggling to push back the waves; the terrible revenge on humanity of Heracleum mantegazzianum, a malign perennial herbaceous plant; and the return to Earth via a musical box of an accidentally decapitated young boy as a sexually frustrated old man who tries to have his way with his female child killer in his remaining moments.
You’ll hear bits of ELP, Jethro Tull, Yes and others as well.
But Somewhere go well beyond merely channeling them. Take for example the three minute outro, which is a delicate, quite gorgeous piano-led piece that bears no relation to any of those bands, topped off with a brilliantly half-spoken vocal soliloquy by Daniel Östersjö, an old friend of NMC from whom we haven’t heard for a while, and who somehow manages to bond Ian Anderson, Jon Anderson, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins into one.
Theresa Rex (Denmark) – Bad Blood (single) (dark pop)
Theresa Rex is a force to be reckoned with. She’s been streamed, mainly indirectly (i.e. with other artists), a billion times just on Spotify, she’s sung for everything from indie groups to metal girl bands and her influences range across the likes of Gladys Knight, Debbie Harry and Janis Joplin. You can’t get much more eclectic than that.
On her own she tends to write intelligent pop about subjects like the need to have her voice heard all the time and her choice to cut herself off from the world when she was undergoing treatment for a serious illness.
Her songs are bubbly and bouncy and often at odds with the dark subject matter. This one certainly is.
It is about being stabbed in the back by a friend who stole her boyfriend.
It has the most convoluted opening verse I think I’ve heard for a while, a maelstrom of contrasting emotions:
“Cried on your shoulder, I can’t forget that night/
Said you had my back, put a knife in it/
What’s up with that?”
Those three lines encompass the entire tenet of the song.
The standard of her lyricism is particularly high throughout; she writes better English than many British songwriters.
On previous tracks I noted similarities to Alanis Morissette and Lily Allen, with accentuation varying from Brooklyn to Brentwood. This time it’s just Theresa Rex, pure and simple. And she’s the King.
TULLE (Norway) – Can’t be Saved (single/EP track) (Death pop)
TULLE is an Oslo-based, 24 year old artist and songwriter, who uses the term ‘Death-Pop’ to describe her music. I think that must be a joke (and ‘joke’ is how her name translates from Norwegian to English) because although ‘Can’t be saved’ is melancholic and gothic I’d hardly describe it as morbid.
Actually, the deeper you delve into her back story, the greater the inherent morbidity that rises to the surface. She’d be a great death metal writer.
And she has the look of Wednesday Addams about her.
But I’m sticking to my guns here. Despite the subject matter I don’t find Tulle’s work depressing at all. ‘Can’t be saved’ starts off disarmingly with pretty much the same chords as ‘Wonderwall’ and then develops into an extreme form of despondent Nordicana. It takes the form of a confessional which is going nowhere because the devil is sitting inside her head and painting it red.
She channels Jenny Lewis so well that this song would have fitted perfectly into her anti-folk/gospel ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ album, a masterpiece for those seeking lyrical and musical nirvana while delving into dark places.
The song is about questioning your faith while being in a state of defeat but I have complete faith in Tulle. It took just one hearing of this song to know that she has genuine star quality.
I want to hear on her British radio, pronto, but I don’t think she’ll be featuring on the religious programmes somehow.
Ungh (Denmark) – Meningsløs (Meaningless) – debut single (pop/soft rock)
‘Meningsløs’ translates as ‘Meaningless’ and deals with “life’s harsh realities” and in particular zeroes in on the culture of perfectionism and the perpetual pursuit of unattainable ideals, a topic we’ve encountered frequently and which, as the title says, is pretty meaningless as well as narcissistic.
To Ungh, a life without soul and peace easily becomes meaningless, and when that happens, it’s important to pause, reflect, and ask oneself: “What am I actually running for – and from?”
It’s a convincing enough argument but 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.
She certainly has an interesting voice, a powerful set of pipes, that slight huskiness that some folk find a little sexy, and the capability to deliver a nice little melody persuasively.
Valerie Melina (Sweden) – Death of Me (single) (intelligent pop)
We receive quite a high number of submissions directly from artists. In Valerie Melina’s (Elin Tirén Vilhelmson) case I was bowled over by the professionalism.
The single ‘Death of Me’ isn’t her first recording. She released an EP, ‘Red Lines’, last autumn.
She’s 24 years old, from Umeå in Northern Sweden, and strives to produce well written melodies, lyrics and vocal arrangements.
She adds that she’s “fond of dance-y songs with sad lyrics” and that “I want people to first fall in love with my melodies and then fall all over again when they start listening to the lyrics.”
I think can say with certainty that she’s ticked all the boxes with this song. I’m in lurve.
‘Death of Me’ concerns having such a huge crush on someone that it’s unhealthy. She says, “Like you know you would do ANYTHING for this person and that should scare you, but you’re so delusional it excites you instead.”
‘Death of Me’ pretty much has it all where mainstream pop is concerned, although I’d prefer to label it ‘intelligent pop’.
It grabs your attention right from the start with a strong guitar melody line in contrast to the simple bass line, followed by several sharp changes of melody, one of them involving a delightful set of ascending chords. The degree of syncopation is what I would expect from a top US artist.
There are two bridges, an extended middle one and the second one then extends into an outro that’s sounds like she’s a dying swan. That’s smart. Oh, and her vocal is just perfect. Strong enough to make its mark but not too overt to detract from the tune.
If it was 1987 and she released ‘Death of Me’, Stock, Aitken and Waterman would ensure that Kylie wasn’t so lucky, lucky, lucky and abandon her to sign Valerie.
And so, to the Top 5, in reverse order.
#5 A Treehouse Wait (Sweden) – ICCY (pop)
A Treehouse Wait is singer-songwriter Jenny Gajicki (Whalström) and co-writer/producer Emil Sydhage.
Only the Swedes can get the balance just right between sadness and dreaminess, and they do that here, perfectly in ‘ICCY’.
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. It’s a song I could envisage as the soundtrack to a film of a marathon runner staggering towards the tape in the athletics stadium in front of a roaring crowd only to collapse in the final straight before the second placed one helps the athlete over the line without a care for their own finishing position.
Terrific lyrics, hugely anthemic and uplifting as are many of their songs. The complete package.
And the whole album (‘Kaleidoscope’) is a delight. It’s playing in the car all the time.
#4 Das Body (Norway) – Ordah (track from the album True Vulture) (synth pop/rock)
Das Body crop up regularly in NMC. We’ve covered singles, EPs and albums and in the past live shows (unfortunately not as many of those as I’d like).
They were third placed last year – more training required!
Their first album, ‘Peregrine’, having been nominated for the Spellmannprisen in 2020, there was considerable expectation as to what the follow up, ‘True Vulture’, would sound like, and it didn’t disappoint.
It is the air of mystery, in song titles and lyrics, that they create, together with a tantalising dark underbelly suggestive of the more sleazy side of Oslo life, its dirty washing hung out for all to see, which has helped establish them as Norway’s musical equivalent of Twin Peaks. You have to be on your toes just to keep up with them.
Elle Linden remains the most formidable, and downright sexy, front woman in the whole of the Nordics. But Das Body is more than Ellie. Their smart chord progressions for example are catchy and often take you by surprise.
I considered two of the album tracks for this ‘Songs of the Year’ award, one of them the delightful, one-take live acoustic ‘You leave no traces’ (do check it out) but eventually opted for ‘Ordah’.
Ellie pronounces ‘Ordah’ like the old fuddy-duddy Speaker barks it in the House of Commons to get the political rabble under control but with the tantalising hint of the sexy sleaze of the libertine in the intonation.
It rattles along at breakneck pace with powerful synth tones and chord progressions hanging in the background and the occasional musical surprises as out of leftfield as those dreamt up by Carter USM as Ellie apologies to her former lovers for her indiscretions but you can’t be sure if there isn’t some hidden motive behind it. Meanwhile, she’s “staying true to the aesthetic, get it”.
I love the way she throws in personal observations nonchalantly; “And when I look down I’m pretty sure that my legs are longer than others”. (I can vouch for that, they should be in the Guinness Book of Records).
Why they aren’t huge here in the UK baffles me. Das Body I mean, not her body.
#3 Johanna Brun (Sweden) – The Silence Roar (single and EP track) (Ambient folk/pop)
Johanna was last year’s winner with ‘Bird’. Since then she has released a number of singles and an EP in anticipation of her debut album which was put back to 2025.
‘The Silence Roar’ is for me the pick of them but only just as they are all good.
Both the perennial ‘Bird’ and the more recent ‘Prophecy’, were concerned with distressing incidents and times in her younger life, how she faced them down and how that made her what she is today.
With ‘The Silence Roar’, her third single,she turns her attention elsewhere, specifically to nature, by writing and playing a tribute to it. And she went so far as to use nature as a musical instrument with some selective and choice recordings that blend perfectly with the music.
The silence does indeed roar eventually but you have to wait for it while Johanna takes you through a virtual countryside meander that’s better for your soul even than any trekking along the Kungsleden, Sweden’s longest long-distance trail.
And when it does finally arrive, as the dramatic outro, it takes your breath away to the same degree of intensity. If Johanna Brun doesn’t stir and enthuse you then no-one will.
2025 will be a big year for her with the album release. I have said consistently since I first saw her over seven years ago now that when she could eventually devote all her time to music (she was handicapped by illness for a number of years) she would make waves internationally.
She did that in Sweden in 2024 both with her recordings and live performances (including a festival appearance at Live at Heart that won rave press reviews).
2025 is the year she goes global.
#2 Stinako (Finland) – Songs of Freedom (track from the EP Spirit) (art/alt-pop & rock/various)
Stinako (Stina Koistinen) didn’t release anything last year but in 2022 she won NMC’s Singles of the Year with the epic pop banger ‘Pelasta Mut’.
It is no coincidence that these artists keep cropping up at the top of these awards. Talent doesn’t just go away.
This year she released through the Soliti label three separate four-track EPs, ‘Mind’, ‘Body’, and ‘Spirit’, in which each one focused on different aspects of her humanity, working with different producers and seeking, in her own words, “to explore and experiment, enriching the artistic landscape of my unique perspective and contributions.”
All three EPs represent different genres of music.
I could have taken at least one track from each of them as a sample but in the end I opted for two tracks from ‘Spirit’ – ‘I believe’ and ‘Songs of Freedom’, and ultimately, with great difficulty, narrowed it down to the last one.
‘Mind’ delved into her thoughts and experiences regarding illness and mortality while ‘Body’ celebrated the physicality of existence, emphasising the importance of embracing and enjoying your body despite societal pressures and personal struggles.
Stina said right from the start that ‘Spirit’ would examine her worldview and beliefs about the state of the world.
There is a distinct soul and gospel feel to each of the tracks
The final track, ‘Songs of Freedom’ has her serving up gospel in full flow. The people are in the streets and everyone’s happy. No man is an island. QED.
And yet, is there a sting in the tail? “And for a day they’re happy”. Is it all rather more ephemeral than they would wish for? Is it a false dawn? Questions that might be asked in Syria right now.
So once again Stinako, her remarkable voice soaring like an eagle, presents us with the best of Finnish alt/art rock and pop. Music that you can take at face value and just sit back and enjoy, or spend all night brooding over the lyrics.
She’s a gem and there are few like her, anywhere.
#1 Nightwish (Finland) – Lanternlight (album track) (Symphonic metal)
The purpose of NMC is to support upcoming artists and bands but going against tradition this year I have to award the #1 spot to a long established symphonic metal band – Nightwish’s ‘Lanternlight’ from their 10th studio album, ‘Yesterwynde’, which I believe will continue to hold a reputation as a seminal song from their entire 28-year catalogue long into the future.
They have always had the ability to write gorgeous ballads (Sleeping Sun, Eva, Away, Swanheart, The Crow, the Owl and the Dove, Forever Yours, Higher than hope, How’s the heart? – the list goes on – but ‘Lanternlight’ is in a class of its own.
I generally feel uncomfortable about mawkishness in songs and especially tribute songs like this (to songwriter/composer Tuomas Holopainen’s father) but the way this is written, and performed, is nigh on perfect, proving yet again that Nightwish is the complete band, not just one of metal bashers (and they’re pretty damn good at that, too).
The way Floor Jansen sings (and acts) it is magnificent, her vocal presence enabling the shift from the sadness of loss to joyful appreciation of a life at the 3:20 mark more convincingly than any other contemporary singer could do it.
The musical arrangement, especially of the strings, is fabulous, the early instrumental bridge a lesson in how to write and deliver one, the video (by Khimoo) is perfectly envisaged, shot and edited, and I love the way Troy Donockley was given a cameo role at the end (as Tuomas’ deceased father – depending on how you read the lyrics?) – possibly because it was he that suggested the made up word ‘Yesterwynde’ to Tuomas.
I’ve said this many times before but I’ll repeat it anyway. If there is a more competent, imaginative band of any style anywhere on Earth right now kindly tell me who it is. They aren’t everyone’s cup of tea I know and they make decisions at times which perplex me but not only Finland, the entire Nordic region should appreciate what Nightwish does for it.
End.
