- Andy Wors
'Emerald Park' - 'Basement Sessions' (EP)
We wrote about Indie Pop festival Indiefjord last week whilst covering 'The Little Hands of Asphalt', and another band that would be a pretty good fit for the charming Norwegian festival would be Swedish band 'Emerald Park'. And similarly to 'The Little Hands...', they're a band we've never featured before, mainly because they've taken a break for the last 4 years, before returning with an EP entitled 'Basement Sessions' - 5 tracks of melodic guitar pop melancholy, which will ease you into the new week without being too challenging.
So I guess I should explain more about 'Emerald Park', given that some UK and US readers (as well as new converts to the Nordic Music Scene) may not have come across them previously. They're a 7 piece band based out of Malmö, and behind them is a vast selection of Albums and EP's stretching back to their debut long play 'Sadness Within' through to their 2015 'mini album' 'Go! Go! Go!'. I've had a lovely weekend listening to a good selection, and their 2008 release 'For Tomorrow' is a pretty good place to start.
Now they're back with 'Basement Sessions', opening with the 'The Haze' a high tempo Indie Pop track, with a throw back synth melody, vocals that sit somewhere Ian Curtis and Robert Smith, and it balances a bright, breezy feel with a heavy undercurrent of sadness, whilst 'Agnes of the North' has a laid back charm which is appreciated on first listen. 'Bigfoot' has a dreamy intensity which draws me in to its sophisticated instrumental haze, and although 'Decease' appeals to me less, they end in a blaze of Indie Pop glory with 'Rules Don't Apply', which was released as a single last year, and has a lovely upbeat tone, with warm, rich melodies to carry it along.
This is 'The Haze':
Anyway it' a very welcome return from 'Emerald Park' and 'Basement Sessions' is a really well written and easy to like EP. You can find them on Bandcamp or Facebook.