TOGGI is former Shakanaka vocalist Torgeir Hørheim. Photo: Mandler Productions
TOGGI channels the indelible spirit of 1980s post-punk on his debut solo single.
Dancing Alone is a quirky celebration of solitude, featuring guitar tones reminiscent of The Cure’s Disintegration album and French coldwave trio Asylum Party.
The Norwegian’s heavily-accented vocals chirpily tell of, in his own words, “what you can do when you are alone”, and the freedom it gives to have nobody around.
Also self-assuredly telling us the track is a “simple masterpiece”, TOGGI adds: “When no-one can see you, you can do whatever you want.”
TOGGI is short for Torgeir Høgheim. Torgeir was previously one-half of Shakanaka, a lo-fi duo he formed with childhood friend Eirik “Egg” Wergeland, himself now riding solo as EGGE.
Shakanaka released two EPs and a number of singles between 2014 to 2017, not quite managing to release a touted album, but nonetheless achieving a degree of national prominence by playing spots at noted industry events including Bergensfest.
Prior to his time with Shakanaka, TOGGI was the vocalist-guitarist of garage rock quartet Berlingo, releasing a full-length, Denne Dansen, in 2013.
His solo turn marks the beginning of a new chapter, marked so far by some live spots, including a recent support slot for PNKSLM’s Les Big Byrd in Bergen.
Dancing Alone is released on digital platforms tomorrow as part of Brilliance Records’ Diamond Club.
Ivo Lima releases his debut single as part of Brilliance Records' Diamond Club
Ivo Lima announces his arrival in style on Picture, a brash debut single dominated by a grandiose trumpet hook.
Released tomorrow by Bergen record label Brilliance Records, Norwegian upstart Ivo’s opener tells of a protagonist struggling to accept a break-up through tall choruses and a hefty brass riff.
Reminding of the electropop sound of the late 2000s, and with some undoubted 1980s pop influences thrown in as well, it’s a catchy start for a local live favourite.
Ivo Lima’s debut solo single comes following previous performances with a full band as SIGURD, sold out shows in Bergen, and a dazzling slot at last year’s Vill Vill Vest.
Despite singing in English on Picture, he regularly communicates on his Facebook page in Norwegian, describing his music as “good pop, sweat, tears and ballads”.
Picture is the latest addition to the Norwegian lineage of Brilliance’s singles series Diamond Club, joining over 125 previous releases by artists including Misty Coast, Mia Berg, Tuvaband and Sløtface.
Newcomer Signe was raised in a musical family, one of three sisters who are all vocalists. Photo: Matilda Bådagård
If you’re a fan of sleek alternative pop, then the new single from provocative Swedish newcomer Signe is one you really ought to hear.
Your Game is deliciously hypnotic, pulsing along with a galloping drum sequence and atmospheric beats, building carefully to a stirring, emotionally-charged chorus.
Signe’s sublime vocal, breathy and lush, plays out over the slick arrangement on an art pop single that flaunts all of her potential to be Scandinavia’s next underground star.
The passionate single is about “the feeling of losing control”, and is released tomorrow via Brilliance Records’ Diamond Club.
Of the single, Signe says: “Your Game is about a rush. Whether it’s a rush from a drug, or love, or even sex, I think most people can relate to the feeling of losing control in the company of someone you don’t really know.
“Like you’re going through this thing together, but you have no idea if that other person feels the things you are feeling. And when you come back from the experience, it’s like you have a weirdly strong bond, a connection with that person, even if that connection is totally fake.”
A trained jazz vocalist that also plays classical violin, 26-year-old Signe Bådagård was raised in a deeply musical family. Her father played bass guitar professionally, and after a childhood performing in front of audiences, both Signe and her older sisters became vocalists.
Signe’s tranquil first single, Over, was released last year, preceded by a lead feature on Downtown, a track by unsigned musician Johnny Låga.
She’s also previously collaborated with her sister Matilda and Malmö singer-songwriter Jonathan Johansson, and announced an unreleased EP, titled Sigh Suites, in 2017.
Your Game is also the first release of Diamond Club Sweden, the latest international edition of a regular singles showcase that promotes material from exciting new artists.
Brilliance Records launched the Norwegian edition in 2012, releasing 123 singles to date, by artists including Sløtface, Misty Coast, Margrete and Thea Stapnes. A London-based UK version followed last year, introducing Lauran Hibberd and Girl Crush to the world.
The Swedish edition will be launched at a showcase at Stockholm’s Lilla Hotelbaren on 30 January. Signe will headline, with additional supports yet to be announced.
Millie Duthie's Thyla bandmates are Mitch Duce, Dan Hole and Danny Southwell. Photo: Cole Flynn Quirke
The fifth edition of the Artist Playlist features selections from Millie Duthie, the lead vocalist and guitarist with supreme British newcomers Thyla.
The Brighton foursome are one of our favourite new bands, blending vintage post-punk tones with anthemic dream pop touches, glazed guitars and some sublime, memorable rock melodies across their various singles to date.
Their debut EP – ignoring a 2014 release by an earlier incarnation of the band – is on the way in February, and we’re sure 2019 will be a big breakthrough year for a group we called “shimmering gems” back in March.
Thyla’s beguiling vocals come courtesy of Millie, who initially met the rest of the band at the University of Sussex, and has since made Brighton and its bustling music scene her home.
It proved a very important decision for the evolution of her own, personal music taste, as she told us: “Moving to Brighton changed everything for me. I owe my musical development to this place, and the friends I’ve made since being here.”
With the help of her friend and bandmates, she’s went from listening to primarily singer-songwriters in the vein of Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell to the ethereal brilliance of Cocteau Twins, North American alternatives Alvvays and Warpaint and modern British big-hitters Wolf Alice and Foals.
She added: “I try to listen to everything. I think it’s important to have a broad knowledge of what’s out there. That said, my go-to playlists and albums are always full of guitars. It’s difficult for me to narrow it down any further than that!”
Millie’s playlist features some of her all-time favourites, a few current picks from the Brighton scene, and her unashamed “hairbrush and mirror” song – plus her thoughts on and the story behind each of them.
Read on for her picks, or head straight for the music and check out all of the tracks she selected on the Spotify playlist here.
Cocteau Twins
Heaven or Las Vegas
Millie says: “This has to be my favourite song of all-time, so it gets the top spot on my playlist. I was late to the party with Cocteau Twins, only really discovering them in recent years. My whole world changed when I heard Elizabeth Fraser’s voice, she’s a constant inspiration to me.”
Taken from:Heaven or Las Vegas, September 1990 Follow Cocteau Twins:Spotify
My Bloody Valentine
You Made Me Realise
Millie says: “My Bloody Valentine are one of Thyla’s biggest influences, both in terms of guitar work and male-female vocal interplay.
“Mitch [Duce, Thyla guitarist] showed me the shoegaze documentary Beautiful Noise, and there’s a bit where they talk about MBV live, especially this song’s instrumental section. It’s totally hypnotic and in some cases uncomfortably overwhelming. I really hope I get the chance to see them live!”
Millie says: “My favourite Brighton band at the moment. We put on a show for The Alternative Escape this year, and these guys made the basement sweat. I’m really excited about their debut EP, which has just been released. Yes Brighton!”
Millie says: “I first saw Warpaint at The Dome in Brighton. I hadn’t heard much of them beforehand, but my friend made me go with her to see them, because she knew I would love it. I did!
“That gig changed everything for me. I became completely obsessed with Warpaint’s Warpaint. I love all of their albums, but this one did something inside. I owe the way I play and think about guitar to these guys. Love is to Die is my favourite song from the album.”
Millie says: “Max [Fletcher, a.k.a. JF Sebastian] and I used to play and write together all the time at college. He played guitar in the early version of Thyla. This is his brand new tune, and it’s wicked. I urge you all to check it out. Alt-pop perfection.”
Taken from: Komodo (single), November 2018 Follow JF Sebastian:Facebook • Twitter • Spotify
The Horrors
New Ice Age
Millie says: “Mitch also introduced me to The Horrors. Primary Colours was the soundtrack to my life in 2017, I rinsed the album.
“New Ice Age has an untamed desperation to it. ‘The agony and the harm is critical’ is such a great lyric. They’re another band I’m yet to see live, but they’ve just announced a special 10-year anniversary performance of the album in its entirety at the Royal Albert Hall next year, and I’m so there.”
Millie says: “Another awesome Brighton band. We really wanted to catch these guys’ set at Dials Festival, but unfortunately our slots clashed. I remember hearing On My Way when it first came out. It’s one of those songs I wish I’d written myself, what a chorus.”
Millie says: “Thom Yorke is a huge lyrical inspiration. Everything he says on OK Computer strikes a chord with me, and it’s still so relevant now. I wish I saw them headline Glastonbury, the footage of them closing their set with Karma Police brought real tears to my eyes. It’s in my ‘top five greatest songs ever written’ list.”
Millie says: “Silent Alarm has massively influenced Thyla’s sound. We’re all big fans of the band, and have been since before Thyla was born. I think the shared love for this album can easily be heard in our songs.
“I’d struggle to find a release out there that captures the energy and essence of raw live performance as well as Helicopter does.”
Millie says: “This is my hairbrush and mirror song. We used to blast it loud at home and my sisters, mum, and I would give it our best karaoke shot. The key change is just everything!”
Millie says: “I could write about the other songs on this playlist for days, but when it comes to my own it’s really difficult. I love all of our releases, but I Was Biting doesn’t just express the way I felt once, it expresses the way I always feel, and so it seems most relevant to this playlist.”
Thyla’s debut EP, titled What’s On Your Mind, will be released on 1 February 2019. Their next live date is on Wednesday 28 November at The Shacklewell Arms in London.
Bang Bang Romeo will release their debut album A Heartbreaker’s Guide to the Galaxy on 14 June 2019
This week’s installment of the Artist Playlist comes from Anastasia “Stars” Walker, the striking frontwoman of British rock hopefuls Bang Bang Romeo.
The anthemic sounds of Bang Bang Romeo have caused a stir in 2018, with wide support from countless influencers, plenty of hype, and a noteworthy spot opening the famous main stage at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival.
A three-piece formed in 2010 in South Yorkshire, their sound is dominated by Stars’ belting, powerhouse vocals, lending their music a unique and relentless quality unlike any other band around today.
Bang Bang Romeo are set to follow their recent Shame On You EP with a debut album, titled A Heartbreaker’s Guide to the Galaxy, next June, and will support P!nk on her European arena tour, taking their sound to stadiums in Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow, London and mainland Europe.
The Artist Playlist is our way of giving musicians, usually the curated, the opportunity to curate a playlist of their own, harnessing their passion for music to receive great recommendations, learn about the music they love, and get closer to their own influences and tastes.
We ask a new musician to take part every week, giving them free reign to select ten tracks and tell us all about them, as well as one favourite from their own past output.
Anastacia’s selections reflect her taste for major, iconic artists both past and present, with most of her picks capable of playing the biggest arenas, and release dates as far back as the 1960s and as recent as the past few weeks.
Brought up on classics like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, as well as ’90s Britpop from Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene, she describes Radiohead’s OK Computer as the album that “changed everything” for her own music tastes.
She told us: “OK Computer really was the beginning to what would become my taste in music. It was the first album that had me designing film sets and blockbuster movie scenarios in my mind when listening to it. The pictures it made me paint in my mind were insane.
“I’m a sucker for dark songs and pieces of music. Give me the 28 Weeks Later soundtrack over a happy song any day of the week. I think if it’s haunting, beautiful, chilling, cinematic and unexpected, it’s for me.”
Radiohead aside, her music taste – and picks for the playlist – stray very little from the music she was introduced to during her childhood, maintaining her formative taste for heavy hitters and huge arena rock artists.
But she also appreciates hip-hop, at least when it’s done right (“I dislike rappers who rap about the same shit other rappers rap about, like bitches, money, and more bitches”) and – as she pointed out when asked if she had anything to add – ABBA.
Read on for Stars’ picks, or head straight for the music and check out all of the tracks she selected on the Spotify playlist here.
Radiohead
Karma Police
Anastasia says: “Track number six on OK Computer, my favourite album, and the album that introduced me to what would inevitably become my ‘taste’. It’s chilling, it’s dark, it’s beautiful, it’s cinematic, it’s one of the reasons I’m in a band.”
Anastasia says: “The Beatles. Most likely a very big part of everyone’s household playlist growing up, and in my house it was no different. My dad passed his obsession with The Beatles on to me at a very young age.
“I was around six when we went to Lanzarote for a family holiday. I took my little portable silver CD player with me everywhere at the time, and that would be no exception. Every night, I had the 1962-66 and 1967-70 compilation albums on over and over again. I remember creeping out of bed at stupid o’clock to change the CDs around.”
Anastasia says: “Yellow, the song I sang to get the girl. I was sat in a park with my future girlfriend one night, and I sang her Coldplay’s Yellow whilst her boyfriend was in a car round the corner. Smooth as fuck, worked like a charm and fundamentally became our song.
“There was also Come What May from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, but that’s enough cheese for one night, folks…”
Anastasia says: “Freddie Mercury, the greatest frontman of all-time and one of my heroes. The voice, the stage presence, the story, it’s untouchable isn’t it? I get asked in majority of interviews who I look up to most as a vocalist and when I say Freddie, most people are surprised that it’s not a woman that I look up to most.
“Don’t get me wrong, the likes of Nina Simone, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Lisa Hannigan inspire me massively, but Freddie drives me more so. Bohemian Rhapsody as the example? Genius, that’s why.”
Anastasia says: “We’re back to that old portable CD player again. My dad introduced me to Catatonia on it. I’d been subject to great female solo artists: Shirley Bassey, Björk, and Dido to name a few. But then dad had showed me Catatonia, my first taste of a woman fronting an indie rock band.
“It made me think: ‘Fuck, so this happens? This is a thing? Women can be current in indie rock music and don’t have to look like Britney Spears to be successful? Yeah, I wanna be in a band.'”
Taken from:International Velvet, February 1998 Follow Catatonia:Spotify
Travis
Driftwood
Anastasia says: “The Man Who is one of a few albums me and my dad gauged on whilst he and my mum were getting divorced. Music has always been a get out clause or a safe haven when something bad is going on in my life, it’s like therapy.
“We must have played this album 500 times in the summer of 2003 when I was a kid. Me and my dad have slowly been ticking the bands who saved our lives in the darker moments off our bucket list. We saw Manics together, Ocean Colour Scene, then finally, this summer at Isle Of Wight Festival, Travis. Tears of happiness! Coldplay, you’re next.”
Anastasia says: “I’ve got a fuck ton of obvious passions. Music, art, film, books and – err – exercise! Yeah, I shit you not.
“Training three to seven times a week has been a part for my life now for just over ten months, and I’m really enjoying it. My fitness levels have risen dramatically and my health is changing and shaping me into the person I want to be when on the road, ready for anything. This tune recently has been pushing me to that next level of ‘burn’, if you like. Love it.”
Anastasia says: “These guys are a big inspiration to Bang Bang Romeo. That dark, twisted, almost fairytale ound is something we lock onto when in the studio. Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Muse.”
Anastasia says: “The afterparty for Isle of Wight Festival’s 50th anniversary. Earlier that day we’d just played our biggest set to date, opening the main stage to a record number of people, around 20,000. We loved every second of it.
“Later that day, Rita Ora gave us her red wine and Pringles and a good chunk of her time, and later still would see us having drinks with Kasabian, Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch amongst others in the hotel behind main stage. Kasabian had just headlined, and the vibe was insane. We’ll never forget it.”
Anastasia says: “Here’s someone we’d do unspeakable things to work with. We tend to write and produce songs in a soundtrack mindset. We’re all huge movie fans, and it really shows in what we do. Hans Zimmer is a name that gets thrown around the studio on a regular basis.
“The Live in Prague album accompanied us during our first time in New York and Los Angeles. It was on repeat, in fact. Goosebump moments, eat your heart out.”
Anastasia says: “Shame On You is our latest single, and the one that’s sort of taken us to the next level, if you like.
We wrote and produced this song in Los Angeles with a great team called HEAVY. We walked in after nearly getting knocked out by falling palm trees because of the wind, then they told us Nick Valensi from The Strokes had been in just hours before, so we smelt the sofas in which he sat, and then wrote this tune.”
Bang Bang Romeo’s debut album A Heartbreaker’s Guide to the Galaxy is scheduled for release on 14 June 2019. They’re also supporting P!nk on her European tour next year.
Dream pop duo Misty Coast are Linn Frøkedal and Richard Myklebust
Norwegian dream pop duo Misty Coast have excelled themselves with their new single, creating a woozy and assured psychedelic showpiece.
Little Sister is the second track to be revealed from their forthcoming album Melodaze, an alluring marriage between grainy layers of guitar and verbal lead Linn Frøkedal’s signature reverb-drenched vocals.
The lead riff soars and distorts, Richard Myklebust imprints Linn’s dewy chorus with a backing refrain, and it all swirls with typical psychedelic effect.
It’s a fuller sound than Misty Coast have flaunted previously, and will be accompanied tomorrow by visuals from British ex-pat artist Steph Hope, now based in Oslo.
Of the track and animated video, Linn explains: “It’s about people who think they know it all, and dreamers who can’t get their heads out of the clouds.
“Steph totally got the trippy vibe, and created this gorgeous animation to visualize the music. It’s a perfect match, dressing our little daydream in vivid colors and mesmerizing movement.”
Melodaze, scheduled for release on January 25, is Misty Coast’s second album in just 16 months, the follow-up to their self-titled debut in September of last year.
Described by the band as their “Berlin rebel album”, it was recorded in the German capital’s Schöneberg district, and produced – as with all of their previous work – by Matias Tellez. The first single, Eleven Months, was revealed in September.
Misty Coast have notably traded the minimalist sequenced drum tracks of their debut for more authentic percussion from Kim Åge Furuhaug, resulting in the rich, more authoritative sound we’ve noticed on both tracks to date.
Misty Coast’s Linn Frøkedal and Richard Myklebust are both also members of indie rock collective The Megaphonic Thrift, starting their new project as a happy accident when late night jam sessions spawned material that didn’t fit in with the band.
Based in Bergen, the twosome are individually staples of the Norwegian music scene, with a thorough history of contributing to various bands, right back to the turn of the 2000s and – in Richard’s case – the late 1990s.
He can be heard on past releases by Stereo 21, Wasted Space Cadets (with whom he was known as “Rockhard”) and producer Matias’ project Young Dreams, while Linn joined Nordic post-rockers The Low Frequency in Stereo in 2006.
Linn is also the sister of Anne Lise Frøkedal, who performs under the family surname and released her second solo album How We Made It at the end of August.
Melodaze will be released by Norway’s Brilliance Records on 25 January, available in both physical and digital formats. Little Sister is out, complete with visuals, tomorrow.
Mira Aasma's new Nighttime Memos EP is released on Birds Records on Friday 30 November
On Lost & Found, Swedish musician Mira Aasma is raw and unmasked, constructing a poignant composition that’s her most affecting to date.
The witchy pop performer drives through an emotional minefield on her new stripped-down production, although under her fragile tones there’s a deceptively positive message and powerful outlook.
A choir of ambient voices gives way to Mira’s vulnerable vocals, synthesized chords and a sprinkling of violin that slowly spin their way to a gently rhapsodic crescendo.
Lost & Found is the second track to be revealed from Mira Aasma’s upcoming Nighttime Memos EP, her cosiest release so far, and initially borne of a series of primitive, back-to-basics demos recorded in her bedroom.
Using only a small Casio synthesizer and the built-in microphone on a pair of headset style headphones, she laid down all of the EP’s five tracks in the comfort of her home, later working in a studio with friends to re-record and add instrumentation.
The first track, Sunday, was unveiled last month, similarly stripped-down but uniquely punctuated with proud blares of saxophone, but it is on Lost & Found that Nighttime Memos is at its most revealing.
The lyrics (“Every time you’re falling down, you’re falling way down through the ground / Every time you’re way up high, all of the shadows seem to hide”) deal with the highs and lows of emotional turbulence, and almost unambiguously seem to address mood and mental health.
Yet of the track, Mira is fairly tight-lipped on the meaning, telling us: “I think that the lyrics have to speak for themselves in this song. It’s very close to me and I imagine that many people probably will recognize themselves in it.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg9Y_rQh0yf/
Nighttime Memos will be Mira Aasma’s third collection of music to date, almost three years exactly since the release of her debut single Ghost.
Born in 1996 and hailing from the vibrant Gothenburg music scene, Mira Aasma started out seeking to sound like Enya and released considerably moodier, gloomier, and even goth-tinged pop material, releasing her first EP Stereoscope in 2016.
She followed it up with a self-titled mini-album last year, marrying violins, synths and her shadowy vocal tones and including the brilliant art pop of Snow White Wedding. A standalone single, Witches, followed this March.
Nighttime Memos is released on Friday November 30 on Birds Records.
Not a day left to get back to
Not a day left to find
All of the shadows that you tried to resist
Are growing fearless in your mind
Not a day left to hold it in
Not a day to let it out
You’re leaning back and longing for a place
Where you can dance under the sun
Every time you’re falling down
You’re falling way down through the ground
Every time you’re way up high
All of the shadows seem to hide
You’re feeling lost and feeling unfound
Stay away just to watch your dreams quietly passing by
In the real coming distant weeks keeping up with the speed of light
Not another day turning into night, gotta get back to sleep
You drift away if you stay around on the bottom of the sea
Every time you’re falling down
You’re falling way down through the ground
Every time you’re way up high
All of the shadows seem to hide
You’re feeling lost and feeling found
Emma Ruth Rundle released her new album On Dark Horses in September. Photo: Amélie Jouchoux
Emma Ruth Rundle dazzled a sold-out crowd on Saturday as she opened the UK leg of her 2018 tour in Manchester.
Appearing at Soup Kitchen for the second time in under a year, she performed material from her excellent new album On Dark Horses, its atmospheric, ethereal sounds proving to be even more hypnotic in the live arena.
Support came from Jaye Jayle, the foursome’s moody Americana supplying a fitting and well-matched warm-up, before half of the band returned to the stage as part of Emma Ruth Rundle’s backing setup.
Jaye Jayle’s vocalist Evan Patterson is Emma Ruth’s partner, and since becoming an item their careers have blended together and become wholly intertwined. The two provide guest vocals on each other’s albums, tour together, and release music on the same label (the brilliant Sargent House).
It’s useful, then, that their respective sounds are a natural fit, even though Jaye Jayle’s music features more electronics and is strongly rooted in alt-country, dominated by Evan’s dusky baritone vocal.
Evan Patterson of Jaye Jayle, as captured by Emma Ruth Rundle
Most of the audience showed up early for Jaye Jayle’s 7:45pm set, which lasted 45 minutes – leaving a short changeover to the headliner – and comprised of nearly the entirety of their new album No Trail and Other Unholy Paths.
Ode to Betsy, up second, was the highlight of their jaunt, while Evan filled the gaps with a few comments to the crowd, remarking on Soup Kitchen’s slightly stale smell.
He also spoke at length about what he called the sound of a barking dog between songs, a joke which the crowd didn’t really get, and which in fact turned out to be this writer sneezing (sorry!) from her spot in the front row.
They proved a good primer to Emma Ruth, even though the audience was not so familiar with their material, and their stage performance – with Evan stood behind a keyboard – less engaging on the eyes than most.
A quick turnaround followed before Emma Ruth Rundle took to the stage for the main event, joined by Evan, Jaye Jayle’s heavily-bearded bass guitarist Todd Cook and her own drummer.
Emma Ruth, a stalwart of several other bands, has been performing in the UK for years and had appeared at Soup Kitchen as recently as 15 December 2017, but that didn’t prevent solid ticket sales and a full house by the time of her performance.
She played almost all of her new album – only Races failed to receive an outing – as well as tracks from her previous full-length Marked for Death, the older material arguably the most enthusiastically received despite the quality of her new release.
Emma Ruth’s audience responded to her music in diverse ways, from calmly watching to sultry dance moves and occasional bouts of headbanging, but it’s music to get lost in regardless of approach and Soup Kitchen, despite not being the most aesthetic venue, was an appropriate auditorium for her intimate sound.
Declaring she was “so glad to be in England” – she’d cancelled in Paris the night before – she got down to business quickly with a performance of the five-minute Dead Set Eyes. Album opener Fever Dreams then mesmerised, while performances of Protection and the title track from Marked for Death were met with the biggest cheers.
Darkhorse, featured in full rather than its single edit, was perhaps the most engaging and captivating performance of all, forming part of a streak of moody songs that she hung a lampshade on by quipping that they weren’t the most appropriate for a Saturday night.
Between the material Emma Ruth also told the audience she’d bought a dress (she played in her usual t-shirt and jeans get-up) only to ask herself “what the fuck” days later, and suggested the audience go along to a “dance party” after the show with her, but she otherwise rarely chatted to the crowd at length.
That meant it was the old adage of letting the music do the talking, which Emma Ruth – armed with her wonderful voice, battle-worn guitar and the percussion of her boot – manages to do in abundance.
Her penultimate track Heaven was another standout, as her set ran to an hour in total for just ten songs, concluding with You Don’t Have to Cry, a song about a painter friend and an unusually sombre choice to end a set.
She returned to the stage alone for her one-track encore, picking out Shadows of My Name from her breakthrough solo album, still one of her most popular tracks and the unsurprising choice to close her performance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpvMjdhFx72/
The quieter stage for the encore meant that a small pocket of fans could be awkwardly heard singing along to the chorus more loudly than Emma Ruth, before she made a sudden exit from the stage almost as soon as she’d played her final note.
It was an abrupt end to a thoroughly stellar show, colouring her passionate new album with her live talent and offering fans a popular opportunity to hear old favourites.
Emma Ruth followed her Manchester performance with a show in Bristol last night, and concludes her UK tour with headline sets in Glasgow (6 Nov), Newcastle (7 Nov) and London (8 Nov). She’s then in Belgium, before returning to the U.S. for a second run of Stateside dates, finally concluding her extended tour in Kansas City on 17 December.
Emma Ruth Rundle set list: Dead Set Eyes, Fever Dreams, Apathy on the Indiana Border, Protection, Marked for Death, Darkhorse, Control, Light Song, Heaven, You Don’t Have to Cry, Shadows of My Name
Hanne Mjøen released her new single, Sounds Good to Me, at the end of September
For this week’s Artist Playlist we’ve asked Hanne Mjøen, a Nordic newcomer making waves in Norway and beyond, to pick out a selection of her favourite music.
Hanne is a glossy pop climber, releasing singles that receive up to millions of plays on Spotify and receive heavy rotation on national radio playlists, a surefire sign she’ll be sticking around and that there’s great things to come.
She recently performed in the UK for the first time at one of Ja Ja Ja’s regular London showcases of Scandinavian talent, and has just released a new single – Sounds Good to Me – on new label Spinnin’ Records.
Her music, proudly boasting its pop credentials, is sleek and shiny, and it’s those characteristics that she’s brought to her edition of the Artist Playlist.
For the uninitiated, the Artist Playlist is our way of giving musicians, usually the curated, the opportunity to curate a playlist of their own, harnessing their passion for music to receive great recommendations, learn about the music they love, and get closer to their own influences and tastes.
Hanne Mjøen’s picks include two tracks from the powerful trailblazer of modern Nordic electropop, plus selections of both major U.S. stars and artists based closer to home.
It’s unsurprising, then, that she describes herself as a “pop girl”. She told us: “I tend to listen mostly to emotional pop songs that hit me and describes how I’m feeling. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a pop music fan.
“Growing up in Oppdal, a town with 6,000 citizens in the middle of Norway, we didn’t really buy a lot of CDs, and I never listen to albums. Lyrics are very important, but most of all the emotion in the voice of the singer.”
Read on for Hanne’s picks, or head straight for the music and check out all of the tracks she selected on the Spotify playlist here.
Robyn
Dancing on My Own
Hanne says: “I am the biggest Robyn fan, and Dancing on My Own is the best song in the world. She is amazing, and she makes me want to dance confident and strong and fall apart crying, all at the same time.”
Hanne says: “I’ve been in love with Bon Iver ever since I first heard Skinny Love in high school. Justin Vernon is an amazing songwriter, and his voice breaks my heart.
“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve cried listening to this song. For me, it’s the perfect description of how it feels being lost, and having pain no-one really can understand or heal.
“I think I could listen to this song on repeat forever.”
Hanne says: “This was a song that just hit me. I love the simplicity and the conflict in the lyrics, missing someone who messed you up, and wanting them to come back and ruin your life even more.”
Hanne says: “This song is something completely different, but it’s just so good. It always makes me smile, and it’s the perfect balance between innocent and sexy.
“It’s the perfect pop song, and I am obsessed with the lyric: ‘Can’t keep my hands to myself. I mean I could but why would I want to?'”
Hanne says: “I feel like Friends is the perfect post-breakup song. I still care about you, and I was just wondering, can we be friends? I’ve actually played this live a couple of times, and I love it.”
Hanne says: “Iselin, I just wanted to say that Bathtub is so weird, so cool and so so so good, everyone should hear it! It’s important to take care of yourself, and to take time to take a bath and not rush into things.”
Hanne says: “I couldn’t help myself and had to pick another Robyn track! Her new song Honey. It’s perfect, and it changes a lot, so it keeps me interested and makes me listen to it over and over again.”
Hanne says: “This is the most honest song I’ve written. I’m a very emotional person, and going into a new relationship can be so scary, putting every emotion on display and knowing it will hurt, but feeling that it’s still worth it in the end.
Hanne Mjøen’s new single Sounds Good to Me is out now on Spinnin’ Records. A music video has also been released, plus a remix by UK producer Paul Woolford.
