In our brand new weekly feature, here's our selection of album, single and video releases to start the week:
Whales & This Lake (Norway) - new album 'Send A Man Down'
So we'll start off in Norway, with a brand new Album release from the really interesting trio 'Whales & This Lake', who I'd probably class as Experimental Electronic Shoegaze. The first track I heard was '჻჻George Super Hound჻჻', which simply explodes into life half way through, and the whole album is definitely worth a listen. Entitled 'Send a Man Down', there are 8 really well written tracks, which combine wistful melancholia and clever electronic wizardry. This is definitely a recommended album for you to get to know this week.
Iffy Orbit (Norway) - new album 'Slow Times'
Staying in Norway, another band who've just released a new album is Iffy Orbit, a psychedelic pop band with a debut album release packed full of melodies. This is a ban who have built a reputation on the back of impressive live performances at Øyafestivalen and supporting bands such as 'Lovespeake'. 'Slow Times' is a varied but consistently strong album, ranging from the retro sounding 'Let It Go' to the blisteringly good 'Not Good Enough', a warped indie pop track which should be on everyone's latest playlists. https://www.facebook.com/IffyOrbit/
UHRE (Denmark) - new single 'Hallelujah'
Away from album releases now, and this is a quite beautiful track (only released on Friday 22nd September) by UHRE, the Danish songwriter also well known as an artist This is an 'acoustic remix' of a previously released track 'Hallelujah', and it's an intimate song, which works as a result of UHRE's lovely vocals, and the innovative approach to the accompanying sounds, where she used a variety of home items around the house. I really like this, and with a high volume of Dream Pop / Guitar Shoegaze style bands being featured this week, this provides a welcome contrast. https://www.facebook.com/UHREs
Tomma Intet (Sweden) - new video 'Through A Circle Of A Rope'
This is a 'band' we really should have featured previously, so apologies for not doing so. 'Tomma Intet' describe themselves as a 'collective' rather than a band, and they've got a few tracks available on Vinyl and streaming services all well worth checking out, all ahead of a planned album release in Spring 2018. Their latest release is a video to a song first released this time last year. There are so many things to like about 'Through a Circle of a Rope', the distinct vocals, catchy melody, but all driven along by thundering guitars and drums. Somewhere between Indie and Post Rock, this is definitely a band worth checking out in more detail. The video is worth watching too: https://en-gb.facebook.com/tommaintet/
Teenage Love (Denmark) - new single 'Sweaterface'
Finally we have a really quirky release from 50% Danish electro pop duo which will certainly be very different from anything you hear over the course of the next week. 'Teenage Love' consists of Anna Lidell from Denmark and Katy Gunn from the USA, and in 'Sweaterface' they have produced a track which will definitely keep you on your toes. The strength of the track is the use of the brass, string and other effects, but I like the way they build the track with some intensity through to the climax. We've had so many Electro Pop submissions this week, and it's great to get one which stands out from the crowd.