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MUSIC

Ten amazing Swedish songs for November

The Local's music guru, Paul Connolly, offers up his top selection of Swedish tracks for you to stream or download to cheer up your November.

Published: 6 November 2015 08:44 CET
Updated: 6 November 2015 14:06 CET
Ten amazing Swedish songs for November
Rebecca & Fiona, whose track, Sayonara, is one of our songs of the month. Photo: Facebook

1. Rebecca & Fiona – Sayonara

Rebecca & Fiona have been nibbling at the crust of success for four years now – the elegant and addictive Sayonara should see them finally take a big bite of the whole fame sandwich, in Sweden at least.

2. Pale Honey – Over Your Head

This Gothenburg two-piece's sparse indie rock is reminiscent of early PJ Harvey and Breeders but gives the formula a sharp melodic twist. They're making inroads in France and America too.

3. Niki & The Dove – Play It On My Radio

Wow, the spirit of Fleetwood Mac is flourishing in Stockholm. This, quite simply, sounds like a lost 80s FM radio classic.

4. Miike Snow – Heart Is Full

Two thirds of Miike Snow are Bloodshy & Avant, the songwriting/producer team who have worked with Britney Spears (they wrote Toxic), Katy Perry and others. This well-upholstered, funky pop soul gem is further evidence of their songwriting chops.

5. Canvas – Another Time (feat. Andrew Montgomery)

Canvas are Swedish brothers Andreas and Robin Schulz, who have a background in punk rock. Another Time, a joyous breeze of electronica, could hardly be less punk rock. The lush vocals are provided by Andrew Montgomery, formerly of British band Geneva.

6. Miriam Bryant – Dragon

The strength of Swedish pop music is highlighted by Miriam Bryant's inability to break through – Dragon is terrific, melodramatic pop that should be huge but the competition is just too tough. For now, that is.

7. Duvchi – Unfamiliar Love

While the likes of Avicii and Galantis clamber all over global dance charts, Jens “Duvchi” Duvsjö is proof that Swedish dance music isn't all surface glitz. Unfamiliar Love's fluid beauty is utterly captivating.

8. Raise – Find U (feat. Karoline Westberg)

This gorgeous chilled house track is the work of Swedish producer and songwriter Rassmus Bjornson. Enjoy it now before a vast, pedal-to-the-metal remix (it's only a matter of time) makes it a global hit.

9. Navet – Fever Dreams

Glorious, big-chorused electronic pop of the type that Swedes seem able to write in their sleep.

10. Club 8 – Skin

Club 8's brand of dark, melodic pop is huge in Japan, South America and, oddly enough, Indonesia.

Watch all the videos in one go here or listen to the Spotify playlist here.

CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

Published: 17 November 2023 09:05 CET
New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

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