Bernhoft
For the last stop on the Scandinavian leg of our journey, we go to Norway, more famous for its fjords and skiers than its music. But, here to prove those doubts wrong is the FemaleFirst world music express.
Our first group Team Me were originally simply a name for singer Marius Hagen to release songs on his other bands just weren’t comfortable with. These were simply little acoustic tracks, but much more was to come from Team Me when they decided to massively expand. Now a six piece orchestra, Team Me are a brilliantly lovable lot.
A joyous collection of delicate indie pop with traditional instrumentation and a vocal of almost childlike innocence would be good enough That Team Me throw some chanting and even some old video-game square wave into the background, they just feel like a fun night in made incarnate.
This became absolutely crystal clear when their debut album To The Treetops launched last year with great success, having scooped up the Norwegian Grammy for best pop act this year.
It’s not just Norway either who are opening their hearts to this endearing troupe, with Team Me having played all over Europe, including here in the UK, as well as over in the U.S and even played in Tokyo.
Staying in the world of pop one of Norway’s most prolific and established singers, Sondre Lerche, is not shy of a little experimenting along the way.
After appearing on the scene a decade ago with his critically heralded album Faces Down, Lerche’s tended not just to experiment track to track, but album to album. Having released two fantastic pop albums, both with a distinctly retro flavour, Lerche’s flitted between genres.
With both a jazz album, a rock album and even a film score to his name Sondre’s sheer creativity means you simply cannot predict what he’ll do next. Be it a sweeping orchestra, a screaming synth or some Jack Johnson -esque relaxing guitars.
Six albums in and Lerche’s still as fresh and willing to re-invent as anyone out there.
So we can never be accused of sticking to the same genres, we have a lovely little slice of the bizarre and brilliant Bernhoft who deals exclusively in Nordic funk. If that doesn’t sell Bernhoft to you, then you mustn’t like your music to be any kind of fun.
Sporting a sound like a Scandinavian Jamiroquiai, Bernhoft has taken his homeland by storm this year, picking up the Norwegian Grammy this year for both best Best Male and overall Artist of The Year awards. It’s hard to argue with them either, as Bernhoft is a truly unique artists with a whole lot of soul in all the aspects of his craft.
His own brand of retro music has even seen the light of day in the US, with his driving bass line and elaborate keyboard solos having gotten an appearance on Ellen DeGenere’s chat show.
In a musical world cruelly undersupplied in the funk department, Bernhoft is bass filled, keyboard laden treat.
Rounding out our Scandinavian travails we have our first quality slice of Nordic rap. Stella Mwangi, moved from Kenya when she was only 4, but her music still has a fantastically African vibe, as she’s worked with numerous Kenyan artists to get the sound just right.
While she may have failed when launched into Eurovision last night, Stella Mwangi’s found success in Norway, Africa and the U.S, having got her music featured in multiple TV shows and films over there.
Mixing high tempo African drum beats and chanting in with cutting edge electro and dance backing, Mwangi’s just a great time to listen too. Think a mix between Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, Stella Mwangi is a lovely slice of something different from our snowy friends at the top of the continent.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith