Pinto Grey (Sweden) – No Turn Around (sample track from the EP The Wrong Place)
Ha! Here we go again. Glancing at the email I thought it said ‘Punto, Grey’, which is how Manchester’s finest classified my car when it was stolen. Fair game, I did get it back quickly and in one piece but who really needs a stolen Fiat Punto anyway?
What you do need is a dose of Pinto Grey’s third EP, ‘The Wrong Place’. The six tracker is the work of a four-piece band out of Örebro, a pleasant Central Swedish town I once had the pleasure of at least driving through and which hosts the Live at Heart festival if memory serves me correctly.
Founded in 2017, they are grounded in 1980s-90s indie rock and – apparently – take their name from that of a Turkish javelin thrower spelt backwards. And I thought that sort of thing only happened in Finland and Iceland.
I had a quick breeze through the six tracks which all follow a formula although not very closely and the final one, ‘Dolores’ is experimental until it explodes part way through.
I selected the opening track, ‘No turn around’ as the featured one here because it is the track that makes me think of the rock of that period most. In fact, I’d go back a little further perhaps, to the 1970s and Wishbone Ash, perhaps even a smidgeon of The Groundhogs although they were mainly blues.
You might even detect a little psych in the guitar tone if you try. And in the vocals.
And there’s melody aplenty.
I like this sound. It’s good to hear this variety of music still being played. I thought it was history but instead its history repeating itself. That said they pride themselves on having their own unique sound and you wouldn’t argue they haven’t achieved it.
So get out your button-down shirt, bell-bottom reflective jeans, and beaded necklaces and settle down to 25 minutes of cutting edge nostalgia. Play it loud.
Pinto Grey is: Adam Randle (vocals); Johan Marberg (drums); Andreas Nilsson (guitar); Michael Backman (bass).
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PintoGreyOfficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pintogreyofficial/
Trine Lyngvig (Denmark) – Sometimes (sample/focus track from the album How Do You Heal a Heart – 10 songs of love and hope
Ok, let’s slooowww things down a little for tonight’s second track.
Trine Lyngvig’s debut EP ‘White Bird’ dealt with the crushing sorrow in the wake of a break up and this one, ‘How Do You Heal a Heart – 10 songs of love and hope’ tackles the healing process like it says on the tin.
That process can vary from burying your head in social media (he writes, with a wry smile on his face) to communing with nature and those opportunities are investigated on individual tracks.
But the conclusion is that, at the end of the day recovering from a sorrow fest is predicated on one’s ability to find love again.
She goes as far as to introduce imaginary Greek myth characters like Echo in the track ‘Hiker’, a mountain nymph with an unshakeable faith in love.
Meanwhile the title track asks “how do you heal a heart if you can’t repair the parts?” British TV viewers will of course know that you take it to The Repair Shop.
She tackles administrative matters like post-divorce sharing arrangements and the more emotive one of fleeting dates; ships that pass in the night. Extreme loneliness is another topic on ‘Océanne’, which is about the teenage French ‘influencer’ whose suicide was the first to be broadcast live on social media platforms.
This track is about losing one’s autonomy in relationships, which is a whole lot less challenging than topping yourself under a French train at the tender age of 19.
Nevertheless it is a gorgeous piece, one that might have been Foreigner’s follow up to ‘I want to know what love is’ and which might have been called ‘Now I’ve found out what love isn’t’. You think I’m kidding you? Check it out, it is sheer class, the vocal is velvety and the little synth bridge is just perfect.
She says,” I think the healing powers of the community are our salvation”. I think she’ll be healing quite a few communities herself with this.
Some say she is Funen’s (the Danish province) answer to Lana Del Rey. I say LDR is New York’s answer to Trine.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trinelyngvig
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trinelyngvig/
