I know we’ve pretty much finished 2024, but someone asked me last week for my 2023 Albums of the Year, and ‘Nevereverending’ by Norwegian duo Misty Coast was of course on the list. I still regret not making a highly impractical trip down to London to see them play live. Anyway they’ve released a new song entitled ‘Swimming’, which was originally written for their album last year, but which didn’t quite fit with the other tracks, and instead will be released on a very limited edition vinyl 10’ EP, wonderfully entitled ‘What if everybody changed and I did not’. The vinyl release date is a secret, and quite frankly even if I did know it I wouldn’t tell you until I’d secured my copy.
As for the track itself, Linn Frøkedal and Richard Myklebust have been explaining more: “We wrote and recorded Swimming during a week's stay in the lighthouse keeper’s house on Utsira Island, far out in the North Sea. We were listening to a radio documentary about the ocean, where they mentioned that there are probably millions (!) of undiscovered underwater species. This got us thinking about all the things we don’t know about each other and the world, and eventually led us into writing a song that pulls in two directions, struggling to keep its notes afloat.”
I’ve found myself googling this lighthouse, which stands high up in in the middle of the island allowing 360 degree panoramic views (although technically I guess all lighthouses have this) and which had an out of tune piano which they used to record the track, with Kim Åge Furuhaug (also Orions Belte, Verdensrommet, Strange Hellos and many many more) adding drums later. Anyway it’s a lovely and slightly unusual track, with a swirling gorgeous unconventionality, all slightly indistinct at times as if the couple are diving through slightly murky waters, yet opening up in the chorus with a very Misty Coast style melody. Love the wonky piano at the end.
Release Date. 22nd November
Label: Misty Coast under exclusive licence to Fysisk Format.