Woah! Many releases again this last week or so, so it’s all hands to the pump and a couple of rapid, quick fire reviews tonight.
Øystein Skar (Norway) – Stok (single/future album track)
Having emerged from a concentrated period of time in which he engaged as SkarWorX in making a trilogy of mainly electronically oriented EPs under the title ‘SEED-X’, Øystein Skar returned to his favourite instrument, the piano, to record his first ever piano piece, ‘Embla’, which is an album pre-release bonus because it won’t be on it.
But this song, ‘Stok’ (‘Stick’ is the literal translation into English), will be included on the album ‘Hem’, which will be released in May.
Øystein says the album has evolved through a long process of “identity exploration” and that ‘Stok’ concerns transformation and transition.
I don’t have a clue what he means by that and it’s probably better not to delve too deeply into it.
In any case, it would be no more than an educated guess about songs that very rarely feature any lyrics (I can only recall one that does that on the any of the three EPs).
So as is often the case it’s better to simply let his music wash all over you. In this instance he says “it started with a simple piano riff here at home, which through improvisation evolved into a pretty energetic and rhythmic soundscape.”
I’ll cut to the chase here. The early part of the song reminds me of sections of ELP’s ‘Take a Pebble’, slowed down and simplified, while the latter “energetic and rhythmic” part builds in the fashion of ‘Tubular Bells’ and with equivalent syncopation.
Not that the song sounds anything like either of them. It just pleasantly reminds you forcefully of two old masters, in a song by an aspiring younger one.
Find him on:
Website: https://www.oysteinskar.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000551982361
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oysteinskar/
Crying Cojones (Sweden) – Don’t turn me down (previous single/sample track from the album Crying Cojones
When we reviewed Crying Cojones last year, the single ‘Broken Hearts’, which also appears as a track on this eponymous album, the phrase ‘Americana but not as we know it’, easily came to mind. But not really Nordicana either, which tends to be more sullenly melancholic. When push comes to shove they have several styles of their own and it’s on its way to being a rock/folk one on this track which rumbles along at pace, supported by a perfectly gravelly vocal.
On ‘Broken Hearts’ they lamented their collective failure to land the partners of their choice. On ‘Don’t turn me down’ at least one of them seems to have at least got to first base and played his opening gambit but is fearful of getting the elbow even before he’s gotten into his stride.
And there are some choice lines.
“I dance alone/shadows are thrown/echoes of the great unknown”
“In the dark/there’s still a spark/glowing in the corner of my heart”.
What I like about these two guys – Jan Ricknell and Fredrik Jonasson – is that they’ve nailed what’s needed to satisfy the C&W and wider Americana market but haven’t shirked writing a little dark humour into it as well.
This track isn’t entirely typical of the album and there are several styles and interpretations in play while they’ve also included a cover version of The Waterboys’ singer Mike Scott’s song ‘Bring ’em all in’ which decisively enlivens the original.
Next stop ‘The Whole of the Moon’? Why not? If Apple can do it then they can.
Gigs and tours will follow in their home country, and an international venture.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567818512432
