So we've covered a couple of quite substantial (and excellent) albums in Phogg and Danafae this week, so just a briefer word today about a lovely EP that's appeared on my playlist out of pretty much nowhere - I have no idea where I came across it and can't find anything in my email inbox, so apologies if somebody sent it and I've not responded.
Anyway Louisa Westling is a Swedish based indie folk artist, and rather nicely she has no information on her Spotify profile and no obvious Facebook artist page, which suggests she just wants to quietly go about releasing her music. Judging from her profile photo she's a songwriter and violinist (unless of course she just likes being photographed holding antique violins) and 'Det jag hade tänkt säga var' is her debut EP, hopefully translating to 'What I was saying was', which I really like as a title.
Similarly to Danafae some of the impact is probably lost on me because of the Swedish lyrics, which is my own loss, but musically this is lovely, carefully written atmospheric tracks that benefit from the thoughtfully arranged instrumentation. You'll hear this straight from the opener 'något bättre', with a pizzicato violin accompanying the gently strummed guitar and drums, slowly building in sound to incorporate more violins and a gradual swell of sound. 'november' (evidently adopting the 'he is tall' approach to use of capital letters) builds even more, with cello and violin adding to the musical textures, with a melody that will take a while to get inside your mind, but is worth the listening effort.
I actually like her stripped back approach to songwriting, but in 'När jag blundar' she builds the track further by throwing the kitchen sink at the finale (or at least a few pots and pans and some random cutlery), with piano, strings and a trumpet combining to build to a big musical climax. Maybe the vocals get lost a little at the end, but I like the ambition and collective sound.
It's a nice EP, I like the quite 'weighty' feel to the tracks at close to 5 minutes, it gives an opportunity to get lost in the music, and she uses her violin holding skills to good effect with the interesting musical arrangements that add to the dreamy vocals. 'Det jag hade tänkt säga var' may well remain a hidden gem of an EP, but certainly hope to hear more from Louisa Westling sometime in the next couple of years.
Find her on Spotify. I'll add other Social Media links if I can.