Two very different styles of songwriting today, and the first one is a Norwegian artist who quite proudly takes influences from across multiple decades, the result being timeless songs, yet still with a big helping of Nordic melancholia.
We haven’t featured Vaarin before, but she’s clearly a mature songwriter, who thinks about the lyrical content of her songs as much as the music itself. She released an album back in 2018, and then followed that up with a collection of songs last year, including a selection of ‘quarantine recordings’. She also used the lockdown time productively, writing an EP of songs that are due to be released soon.
Most of her songs seem to be based around piano, and new track ‘Darling’ is no exception, but it’s the gentle yet sophisticated instrumentation that gives the track character, with an expansive cello part allowed to flourish. Obviously anything involving a cello adds that tinge of sadness, but Vaarin’s vocals are warm and uplifting, and the whole song works really well.
She’s been explaining more about the background to the song:
“I wrote this song to my younger sister, after she has told me a lot about her problems with depression. The line 'Say what's on your mind, darling?' was the first line I wrote for this song. The demo was made in my friend Marcus Edvardsen's home studio, with candles and angry neighbours. If you listen closely, you can hear the train passing by at the end of the song."
Beautiful music being made in one house, and angry neighbours in the next. I can imagine characters in a Linebug video being portrayed like this - human life is weird and unexplainable sometimes, but Vaarin helps to make sense of things.
Anyway look out for her EP ‘Imaginary Movies’, due to be released in the next few weeks via Made Records.
Find her on Facebook or Instagram.