Just in From Scandinavia: Nordic Music Round-Up 3

Long winters, when most outdoor activities are off the menu, must encourage creativity. Judging by the new releases in from Scandinavia, almost-constant dark and sub sub-zero temperatures would do the music of more temperate regions some good, feeding inspiration. Whether it’s Norwegians with a yen for the spooky, irresistible accordionists and disturbing singer-songwriters from Finland, or do-it-yourself Danes, all and more are here.

Amongst the aspects which make Scandinavia’s music striking, especially music from Norway, are songs which don’t initially reveal where they’re going. Twists and turns are unpredictable, but on arriving they make perfect sense. What could be disjointed is fluid, yet sinuous. The fourth album from Norway’s Hanne Hukkelberg meets this head on, seamlessly fusing contrasts in a sound world that’s hermetic but open. Her facility for adjustment ought to be no surprise as she’s played in a free jazz outfit and fronted a doom metal band. Featherbrain follows 2009’s Blood From a Stone, a dark, guitar-centred album that drew on psychedelia and post punk. The spooky Featherbrain takes a trip elsewhere, to inner space. Parts are recorded in a kitchen, parts in a church. Her father contributes church organ. The album ends with “Erik”, where Hukkelberg duets with 88-year-old singer Erik Vister. Members of the Krautrock-inclined jazz outfit Huntsville crop up. Featherbrain is a strange, affecting album, intimate and spontaneous.

Featherbrain’s press release was written by fellow Norwegian Jenny Hval, another artist versed in using intimacy to unsettle. Her new album, following last year’s wonderful Viscera, is a collaboration with jazz guitarist Håvard Volden. It’s not jazz or even folk although parts evoke the Incredible String Band at their most drifting. Showcasing her conversational yet detached voice, the literate songs draw on the poetry of Hungary’s Agnes Lehóczky and dig into Hval’s exploration of the tension between the body’s conscious and involuntary functions. The sparse Nude on Sand shows that even bare bones can create an impact.

Of course, not all Norwegian music is this impressionistic. The second album from Maribel, Reveries, rushes headlong into “Death Valley 69”-era Sonic Youth, Slowdive and Lush. Its sweet melodies grab. Lindstrøm – Hans Peter Lindstrøm – has defined a post-rave, post-garage music that’s usually best sampled live. His third album proper, Six Cups Of Rebel, is the first showcasing his own voice. It's also on nodding acquaintance with Seventies prog, when rock went classical. Neither fully embracing the dance floor or anthemic arms-aloft rock, it’s a transitional album.

No such fence sitting from the fifth album from Tromsø's Alog. Unemployed is a wild fusion of antique keyboards, ukulele and Hardanger fiddle that’s a trip. Jenny Hval contributes vocals to one track. Employing an even wider selection of instruments, Tore Brunborg and Kirsti Huke’s Scent of Soil takes in pedal steel, vibes and sax and bolts rock to a jazz chassis. Prolific drummer Erland Dahlen’s Rolling Bomber is probably jazz, but this crazy ride (titled after his ancient Slingerland kit) breaches musical boundaries to fly through Krautrock, techno, ambient and all-out noise.