Ove Markström (Sweden) – Din andning är så tung (single)
This one came out of the blue. I usually have at least Swedish lyrics to work with on Ove Markström’s songs but not this time.
Then when I see the title, ‘Din andning är så tung’ and learn that it translates as ‘Your breathing is so heavy’ I’m thinking that perhaps it’s better not to know. A Swedish equivalent of ‘Je t’aime moi non plus’ perhaps?
Actually it turns out to be more placid, considered and thoughtful than that.
A little digging around social media posts reveals that the subject matter concerns relatives and friends who were stricken during the pandemic and for whom he could do nothing; not even listen to their laboured breathing as you weren’t allowed into the hospital unless you’d got it, too.
And even then you were put on a waiting list and parked in a corridor here in the UK.
I’m sure we all recall that scenario, even though we would rather not.
So he wrote parts of the song during one of those long waits of painful uncertainty when a close friend was bedridden and might not have survived, but he pulled through.
But if you’re expecting a nice ballad with a soft ending, forget it. He doesn’t really do them.
That said, ‘Din andning är så tung’ is quite different again from the mysterious ‘Var’ that we investigated last time out.
It’s a powerful rocker hung on highly melodic chords and an underlying jangly piano riff that work perfectly in unison, and a classy guitar solo bridge.
I thought I might be going down with something but hey, I feel better already.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ove.markstrom
The Sweet Parade (Iceland) – Bonfires (single)
To point out that The Sweet Parade (Snorri Gunnarsson) is a one-man band is like saying that Neil Armstrong put together Apollo 11 himself using bits of Meccano before he took off and steered it towards the Moon, or that Musk has hand-built every Tesla by himself in his spare time.
I was going to add something about Trump putting every brick in the wall himself but concluded that might be The Bonfire of NMC’s vanities and chose discretion over valour.
Lord knows how many instruments he plays here. He credits himself with what seems like dozens of them but then he excels himself in his latest releases, ‘Bonfires’ which is like Mike Oldfield on speed.
Please don’t ask me to allocate a ‘genre’ to him. Previously he’s channeled the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ in his own ‘Sweet Nothing’ and then The Beatles and Oasis together in his last song we featured, ‘Luck’.
‘Bonfires’ has an element of Americana in it early on, courtesy of a nice bit of slide guitar, and then drifts off into a psychy piece not that far distanced from early Pink Floyd.
I haven’t been able to unpick the song’s meaning but I’ll take a punt that it concerns him reaching a point where his youth is unraveling and he faces the realisation that his idealistic dreams will never see fruition and that it is time to put away childish things.
“Lost empires
Failed promises, that we still keep
Long lost love affairs
Fake governments, of fear
Vast bonfires, to burn
Oh we Celebrate
the loss of our youth.”
A very smart artist that demands your close attention.
Find him on:
Bandcamp (track): https://thesweetparade.bandcamp.com/track/bonfires
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesweetparademusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesweetparadeband/
