THE BEST OF SWEDISH MUSIC IN 2023

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

(Our Swedish Correspondent)

Hi Jim,

Although this time I might not really be in the place to answer that question, I will as tradition now has it at least say something about what happened in Sweden last year. Of course, we’re talking music, for a while let’s forget last year’s double digit inflation, skyrocketing interest rates and worst of all the way too strong influence on our government by the populist right-wing morons in the Sweden Democrats Party. Frankly, a quite miserable story.

Looking back, last year saw a not neglectable increase in records joining the collection, but at a closer look – very few Swedish acts were included. Whether this is due to my oversight or it actually was a quiet year, I’m not totally sure. Several of the artists I have my eye on released records in 2021/2022 so since not all bands are as feverishly active as Bar Italia it might be a natural thing.

As you will notice there is a strong majority for electronic music here, only 7ebra would qualify for the normal kind of indie shared here at TVV, which is kind of odd as the opposite is valid for international artists finding their way to my home last year.

So this time it’s just an EP – This Happened In Sweden Last Year.

A1.  Kite – Don’t Take The Light Away

Synth duo Kite actually released several 7″ singles last year, but as all but this one had been released digitally earlier, they were disqualified. Kite do very emotional and dramatic music, it’s almost operatic in the way singer Nicklas Stenemo delivers. They without competition won the prize for best live performance 2023 for their show at Dalhalla, a former quarry now transformed into a spectacular arena (Bernard S announced it to be the coolest place they ever played when I saw New Order there a couple of years ago). For the first time they had a full band on stage, which added depth (and guitar) to the performance. A magical night!

A2.  The Mobile Homes – Some Days

After a long hiatus, The Mobile Homes returned in 2021 with Trigger, now reinforced with two of the guys formerly in Swedish indie (“emo”) rock band Kent. Last year saw the release of Tristesse, which is very much a false declaration. These two albums are the two best Depeche Mode albums released since Violator…

A3.  7ebra – Lighter Better

The odd bird this time (pun intended as the album is called Bird Hour), 7ebra reminds me a lot of my old DIY records by Young Marble Giants, the Gist and Weekend.

B1.  Memoria – From The Bones Of The Dead

Memoria is Tess De La Cour, wife of Henric De La Cour who has a past in the same band(s) as Christian Berg, nowadays the other one in Kite. The album From The Bones is filled with dark and moody synths, it’s her second release under the Memoria moniker – both worth having if you’re into darkwave. Kite vocalist Nicklas makes a guest performance on one of the tracks; Along The Sea.

B2.  Natten – Ringen

I discovered Natten (The Night) by chance, going to a gig night with 3 different acts. They played an organic variant of half ambient electro, almost techno, adding saxophone and vocals to the mix, I was totally blown away by the combination and got hold of their only full length album so far, Dolce Vita from 2017. Later in 2023 they released the EP Máni digitally through Bandcamp, a slight bit more towards the ambient side compared to the live experience.

B3.  Kite – Remember Me

So I break the “only one song per artist”-rule by ending this EP by the flip of the Kite 7″ starting it off. This is 8 minutes drama, a long intro and then a full-blown pledge to Remember Me, an almost overloaded ending I just couldn’t omit.

Enjoy!

Martin

JC adds..…As I say every single year, I always look forward to Martin’s end of year round-up as there’s inevitably something in there that is of huge appeal, and this year is no different. These tunes are well worth a listen.