Friday, 1st November 2024 must at least come close to setting the record for the most new releases on the same day in the Nordics although I do believe the story was much the same last year.
What it means is that many have to be overlooked I’m afraid, while those that can be reviewed can only get a concise one, and where they are albums that means a sample track.
So here we go, with the first of three separate posts this weekend.
Amalie Skriver (Denmark) – I Surrender (sample track from the debut album Best of Amalie Skriver 2009 – 2024)
Amalie Skriver paid us a visit early in October with the single ‘Uncertainty’, a precursor to her album ‘Best of Amalie Skriver 2009 – 2024), which was released today and which is a compilation of 15 years of songwriting work as the title suggests. You know, I think it’s the first compilation album we’ve ever had.
I said in the ‘Uncertainty’ review that Amalie has a crisp, clear contralto pitch voice similar in tone to that of Karen Carpenter and I was listening out for that again. I didn’t have to listen for long.
Amalie suggested several tracks herself including one that had received good airplay in Denmark, another that won a peer-reviewed songwriting competition in the UK and a third that was a cover of an Alanis Morissette song.
But you don’t have to listen beyond the first track, ‘I Surrender’, (a brand new one) to know where Amalie is coming from. NMC rarely features mainstream pop simply because that has so many other outlets but this song ticks all the boxes.
It is catchy straight from the off with several contrasting melodies through the verses and chorus, one of which lodge itself in your brain, well produced with appropriate instrumentation (especially the strings) and builds enjoyably to its conclusion.
I thought Amalie was “surrendering” to the mortal love of her life but a little research told me there is a religious theme not only to this but to some of her other songs.
That’s not unusual and I once wrote an article on religiously-oriented music you’ve never heard but should do, but what surprised me was the depth of quality in the recording.
To be honest, if I didn’t know who this was and someone told me it was an early Carpenters song that had been discovered in an abandoned studio I’d find it hard not to believe it.
I can’t pay her a better compliment than that.
Find her on:
Website: https://www.amalieskriver.dk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amalieskriverofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amalieskriver/
Siri Neel (Denmark) – Drawn like a magnet (single/title track from debut album)
Also with a debut album and also from Denmark is Siri Neel.
In Siri’s case we have been tracking her singles – four of them – and some readers may already be aware of her back story which involves losing her voice as a result of nerve damage and being unable to record for six years and then, suffering psychologically from that imposition, and when able to record once more, throwing in her job to concentrate solely on the music.
‘Siri from Accounts’ no longer, I guess.
The title of the eight-track album is ‘Drawn like a magnet’ and she describes it as a testament to the fact that “something beautiful and meaningful can emerge”, even after an artist hits rock bottom and that in releasing this album now it demonstrates that when you have the courage to face challenges, a new beginning can emerge out of a journey towards freedom and authenticity.
She adds that the songs are the result of having regained strength and beliefs and embracing what is imperfect.
Then that she “truly hopes to inspire others to find their inner strength and follow their true path, no matter where they are in life – and to feel drawn like a magnet to their goal”.
The single/title track itself, co-written with the Swedish songwriter Jade Ell, takes that concept a stage further, the lyrics reflecting an intense internal struggle to take the chance towards her dreams, breaking free from everything that kept her stagnated and was holding her back, which included certain family relations and the feeling that she didn’t even have the right to take a chance on herself.
Well, listen up, Siri; I don’t hear any imperfection here. I do hear a quite seductive song, one that might be representative of a love affair blossoming. And that is of course exactly what it is, an affair with her music.
She’s often compared with Kate Bush but that needs to stop. Henceforth the comparison needs to be with Siri Neel.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sirineel8/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siri_neel/
Pikes (Sweden) – Lips (single)
If I’ve learned one thing from reviewing no less than seven of Pikes’ songs over the last two years or so it is that he never fails to find a tune. And I mean a TUNE.
Funnily enough the melody isn’t the stand-out attraction of this latest single, ‘Lips’; rather it is the incredible energy he works up and maintains. I’d love to see him performing live but I’d be careful not to stand too close to him for fear of spontaneous combustion.
This latest anthem of his doesn’t try to play down the pleasure derived from” kissing the best lips on the planet”. I can only assume that he got over the fear of Tinder failure that he revealed in his last song that we heard, ‘Restless Lover’, went fishing, and managed to land Miss World.
He says, “I just wanted to get that energy out using my guitar” and that instrument alone would have been enough to satisfy that desire but when the synthesisers move in, in support, mid way through it moves from lips, to French kissing to Deep Throat quicker than you can say Linda Lovelace.
His solo career began as a way of departing from an existence that was defined by rules and norms. It strikes me he is well on the way to redefining them himself.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PIKESondemand/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeofPIKES/
