Whilst Merriment and Dirt might take the lo-fi musical approach, Swedish band FVRmind seem to have opted for the slightly bolder strategy of hiring a symphony orchestra for the recording of their new track ‘Onto You’, which was released today.
It all sounds marvellous too, a song that mixes a melancholy Nordic folk sentiment with an explosive theatrical power, building to a climax that Anton Bruckner would have been proud of.
So who are FVRmind, and where have they sprung from? Well aside from the slightly irritating name, they seem to have been building their reputation in London through sheer hard work and plenty of gigs over the last couple of years, which is good to see, with appearances at some of my favourite venues such as The Garage and the Camden Assembly. They just need to play at the Water Rats after lockdown ends and I’ll be straight on a train down to watch them.
Founding the band was the idea of Swedish artist and songwriter Iona Isabella, and she’s been joined by guitarist Marcus Kearsey, bassist Rocco Macchia and drummer Oliver Overgaard on the project. They released a track entitled ‘Obscure’ back in the summer which I shamefully missed, but actually ‘Onto You’ is a more powerful track. The opening is quite reflective whilst the vocals (and they are mightily impressive throughout) have that distinct mystical Nordic inflection, before the whole thing just bursts into life half way through and those driving strings crescendo their way to the end of the track.
Take a listen here, this has grown on me all week.
My instinct says that we'll be hearing a lot more about FVRmind, they have a real presence and a sense of authority in their songwriting. Distinctly Nordic too.