We'll start today with folk influenced singer songwriter we haven't featured before, Swedish musician Louise Kulmala, who has released a stream stream of singles over the couple of years, including last years single 'Snow'. She hails from the beautiful Swedish city 'Växjö', I'm sure we've written about musicians from there before but I can't quite place who that might be, but anyway it's another place to visit on that tour of Sweden I've been planning for way too long.
Anyway, her songwriting is influenced by a variety of influences from the likes of First Aid Kit and interestingly 'Florence and the Machine', and I say that because she has a power to her voice that does remind me of the latter - and the fact that she grew up fronting rock bands demonstrates that she has a strong vocal presence. But at heart she's a songwriter, writing her first song at the age of 12, and it sounds as if her most natural style involves simply performing with her guitar.
Her new track is 'Soulmate', and it's a nicely written song which opens with just guitar and voice, before it coming to life with powerful drums and vocals, and then drifting away with a Latin influenced guitar solo, giving it a soulful feel. The background drumming adds to the mix, and the voice is melancholy and rich in sound. It's quite an unusual track in some respects, but I think it works well.
Louise Kulmala