THE BEST OF SWEDISH MUSIC IN 2024

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

(Our Swedish Correspondent)

Hi Jim,

I almost feel like a broken record, but as tradition now has it – here I am once more with some highlights from the Swedish music year of 2024. Experience telld me I will as usual have overlooked a coupe of great releases, but these are the ones that have shone a bit brighter over at my place. Last year saw me discover a few more electronic acts, and ionnalee/iamamiwhoami had a very active year so I turned this year’s album into an electronic side, and a more “analogue” side.

Let’s start gently with the analogue side of things.

A1. Annika Norlin – Full På Dan

Annika, also known as Hello Saferide when singing in English and Säkert! when in Swedish, released her second album using her real name. She’s becoming more and more quiet for every release and En tid Att Riva Sönder follows the path, lyrics being in the centre. Maybe not so strange as she has now published two books, so writing text has taken up more and more of her interest. This is the album opener, translates to Drunk During Daytime.

A2. Maja Francis – Hello Cowboy

Maja has been here before, a wonderful mixture of Dolly Parton and Kate Bush. Hello Cowboy from the album with the same name is country pop when at its best. Her voice can divide, but man I love it.

A3. Linn Koch-Emmery – Borderline Iconic

Linn released her second full length album, and in interviews she has talked a lot about letting her medication for NPF go and replace them with music. The lyrics on the album are all her own experiences, and opening with the short “A Room Where I Can Scream” you kind of get the picture. The title track Borderline Iconic is a great guitar driven song about (maybe) being bi-polar.

A4. Moto Boy – Satanic Love

From the said to be last album using the Moto Boy moniker, Drown Out The Noise. Unmistakably, Oskar’s falsetto voice over a sweet melody.

A5. Webstrarna – Utomhus (öst)

Webstrarna were originally active in the 90’s with their quirky indie pop. Too pop for the indie kids, too quirky with weird lyrics for the pop audience, they fell somewhat in between. Since a few years back they started to release new music through their YT channel, last year saw them release four songs all called Utomhus (Outside), each with a direction attached – this is east. A slice of post punk funk.

A6. Thåström – Norrut/Söderut

Thåström is in my mind our Nick Cave, a storyteller coming from the late 70’s punk scene and over the years becoming a narrator grounded in blues, a dark and slow form of it. Last year’s album, Somliga Av Oss, is actually a little more hopeful than of late, Thåström singing in a slightly brighter voice and with subjects not always about alienation.

The B-side. Are Swedes Electric?

B1. Video L’Eclipse – Let It Begin (feat. E:Lect)

From the album Begin-Repress-Depart. A band I have not heard of before but came across when reading about the best Swedish synth band of the last 10 years or so – Kite. A bit of dark wave with a synth-riff that almost adds an Italo-disco feel. But it works.

B2. Kite – Losing (feat. Henric de la Cour & Anna von Hausswolff)

Kite has released a number of singles in recent years, 2024 saw the release of Losing / Glassy Eyes and the compilation VII collecting all these singles. As usual, very (melo)dramatic and emotional. I saw Kite play a tiny venue in February where they ended their set with this track, played live for the first time. This year, on February the 1st, they will play a stadium concert in an ice hockey arena, adding ice hockey players, ice skating princesses and ice rink cleaning machines to the show… They never shy away from the extremes!

B3. ionnalee – Keep Me From Dreaming

During December, up to Christmas, ionnalee released a song every second day at her YT channel, totally 12 tracks making up the collection Kronologi 2. Where the original Kronologi was a summary of 10 years as an artist (as iamamiwhoami and ionnalee), Kronologi 2 consists of demos, alternative takes and unreleased songs. This is trademark ionnalee with a instrumental break that goes off a bit…

Saw her play a rather small show with full band in September, she’s surprisingly good live.

B4. iamamiwhoami – Don’t Wait For Me (Daithi remix)

First thing in 2024 under the iamamiwhoami moniker the release of a remix version of the 2022 album Be Here Soon. Same tracks, in the same order, just remixed by different people – and in my eyes a great improvement on the original turning a pretty bleak and slightly boring album into a shimmering piece of dreamy, and partly more clubby, synth-pop.

B5. ionnalee – Innocence Of Sound

In September ionnalee (I told you she was productive!) released the sibling albums Close Your Eyes and Blund, an English and a Swedish version of the same album. If you, as I do, like her music you’ll be pleased with this one too – otherwise I guess your finger is lifting the pick-up by now…

B6. Abu Nein – Wir Leben

From their third album Dark Faith, a pretty dark and slightly gloomy piece of electronic goth (they do a Bauhaus cover, Hollow Hills). Not only the title of the album hints towards The Cure, the last track of the album is 11+ minutes that could potentially have made it onto Disintegration or Songs Of A Lost World, they just do it the other way around – vocals from the start and then a long instrumental ending. Fabulous.

I apologise if the sound quality has suffered a bit cramming in this much music on a single LP, value for money! 🙂

Bonus track: ionnalee – Allting Vill Rinna Ut I Sand (Swedish version of Innocence Of Sound, from Blund)

See you in a year!

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.