A mix of singles this week, from Norway, Iceland, UK and Belgium.
Louien - 'Losing My Mind' (from forthcoming album 'Every Dream I Ever Had')
Norwegian musician Louien has featured regularly on our Nordic Music Review playlists, and latest single 'Losing My Mind' is another enjoyable, atmospheric track that blends indie guitar and folk influences. Her new album 'Every Dream I Ever Had' will be released on February 16th, and that's definitely in my diary.
CeaseTone - 'FLOW.'
It's great to see CeaseTone back, an artist we've featured since before his official debut in 2015, and who remains a principle reason why we've kept going all this time. Since then Haffi Þráinsson, the musical brains behind the project has has carried on working with pretty much every notable Icelandic artist inc Dadi Freyr, Axel Flovent and of course Agent Fresco, which allows me to ask my weekly question: What happened to Agent Fresco? Anyway I wasn't quite expecting Haffi to appear as an Icelandic Eurovision hopeful, but here he is, and 'FLOW.' is a song that will really grow on you. I hope that he wins obviously, although whether Iceland will compete is another question.
cabane (featuring Kate Stables) - 'Melodies of Love'
Belgian musician and photographer Thomas Jean Henri releases music under the name cabane, and in new album 'Brûlée' he's joined together with some pretty wonderful artists such as Kate Stables (This is the Kit), Sam Genders (Tunng) and Sean O’Hagan of The High Llamas, who's done the string arrangements. 'Melodies of Love' is a lovely exquisite example. I should feature this in our Recmmended Albums of the Week really too:
The Howlers - 'Lady Luck'
East London trio 'The Howlers' have already received a lot of attention for their releases to date, which include 2 EP's, a bunch of singles, and their debut album 'What You've Got to Lose to Win It All’ will be released in May. Ahead of that they've released 'Lady Luck', a dark brooding indie guitar track which shows why their new album is just so highly anticipated.
Caoilfhionn Rose - 'Rainfall'
Singer, songwriter and producer Caoilfhionn Rose resides just up the road from us in Manchester and I've been lucky enough to see her a couple of times live, once I'm pretty sure on the same line-up as Siv Jakobsen and Einar Stray. She's released 2 albums, collaborated with many musicians including The Durutti Column, and her latest single 'Rainfall' is gentle, atmospheric and ambient in texture. It paints a lovely musical picture that is less 'rainy day in Manchester', maybe more 'spring showers in Thornton-le-Dale'.
More next week.