Winter is Coming!
This is a fascinating time in mainland Europe, with summer scheduled to come to an abrupt stop on the 31st August, regardless of what the weather might be. Holidays are over and everyone will now start getting ready for winter and whatever it might bring!
August is always a quieter month for musical output, with many musicians either caught up in holiday fever or appearing at some of the many festivals that go on at this time, but we do have some new music, much of it coming from the Scandinavian region.
Let’s start with Finland-Swedish singer-songwriter Désirée Saarela, who has just released Cloud Reflections, the first of three singles that will lead up to her forthcoming 10th career album, appearing later in the year. Rooted in the landscape of Finland, Cloud Reflections captures the quiet beauty of a moment that might otherwise pass unnoticed. Saarela wrote the song after swimming in a small Finnish lake and watching clouds move across—and reflect upon—the water. “I’ve always admired clouds—the light that shines through them, how beautiful and dramatic they can be. As I live by a small lake, I often see clouds reflected on the water. This song is a reflection in itself. It carries a tranquility and peacefulness that I think we human beings really need. Just being in the moment, here and now. Let the silence, the dreams and the clouds speak, and let the heart feel and tell the story, your own story.”
This is a beautiful song, perfectly delivered in her slightly smoky voice, accompanied by her own excellent guitar playing, and suggests that the new album will be another fine collection of songs for one of Scandinavia’s most established roots musicians. The second single from the album is due in September and we hope to bring you news of the album itself when it is released. Saarela embarks on a run of shows throughought Norway and Sweden during September and October. Details can be found at her website.
Norwegian songwriter and musician, Tony Gonzalez is known for his work with noise rock duo, Barren Womb, but also, increasingly, for his americana leaning solo project, Velcro Dog, and music that he describes as Fjord Noir which, it turns out, is the title of his new album, the follow up to his 2022 debut Misanthropology.
The songs for this new album were written over a two-year period, marked by deteriorating mental health, and the record paints a stark portrait of life under a black cloud, where escapism, doubt and resignation loom large. Things that will be familiar to anyone who has struggled with serious depression. Despite this darkness, Gonzalez was also able to look outward, telling stories of the people around him and even crafting a love letter to his hometown of Trondheim, where Fjord Noir was recorded and mixed at Piir Studio. The album comes out digitally and on CD and limited vinyl next month, on September 18th, via Westergaard Records, but Like A Guest has recently been released as a single and is the second single release taken from the album. Gonzalez’ work as Velcro Dog is in sharp contrast to the music he produces in Barren Womb, and his songs are thoughtful and thought provoking, and well delivered in a voice that’s perfectly suited to these bitter sweet and slightly fractured songs. Fjord Noir is an album about dealing with old and new ghosts, investigating the darker corners of roots music. This is a very interesting artist that’s well worth checking out, and he has a number of live shows coming up in Norway throughout the autumn. You can find out more about his music, and upcoming gigs, at his website.
Also from Norway, The Northern Belle are back with new album, Even Cowgirls Get Sad, and it’s another collection of singer songwriter and frontwoman Stine Andreassen’s trademark bright and catchy tunes, with lyrics that often belie the jauntiness of those tunes. The Northern Belle have been one of the leading lights of americana music in Norway for more than a decade now, and this is their sixth studio album release. There’s something of a shift in their sound this time around. The trademark country influences are still there, most notably the use of pedal steel guitar on a number of the tracks, but the music has a little more gloss to it, a bit more of a pop/rock feel. The band haven’t veered into country pop, by any stretch of the imagination, but it all sounds that bit fresher and more urgent.
After the success of their last album, 2024’s Bats In The Attic, The Northern Belle took a short break, which was followed by a transitional phase as band members found themselves scattered across the country. Working together continuously became more difficult, and everyone had their own projects and jobs. For Andreassen, whose songwriting and clear crystal voice lies at the heart of the band, the solution was to approach colleagues and musicians she admired in the Oslo area. The album was recorded at Globus Studio in close collaboration with producer Preben Sælid Andersen, and guests on the album includes other prominent Norwegian artists such as Embla and the Karidotters and Feber. This album is all about collaboration and the fresh energy that can come from new associations. Even Cowgirls Get Sad is out now on Die With Your Boots On Records.
Prinz Grizzley was one of the first artists we featured when we started investigating mainland European americana artists in our Continental Shift series, nearly two years ago now (you can read that article here). Operating from his forest home in the Austrian Alps, Chris Comper, as he’s known to friends and family, initially found success with his indie-rock band Golden Reef before going solo as Prinz Grizzley, releasing a series of well received albums that led to him playing at festivals like SXSW, AmericanaFest, and the Kilkenny Roots Festival among others. Which is why it’s always good to hear of a new release from this artist, and his latest single, an environmental protest song that draws heavily on bluegrass influences, is out now. Reign On, Queen of Mountains (A Price to Pay), is a warning to advise future generations how to better exist alongside the natural world, driven by uptempo banjo and mandolin accompaniment.
It also serves as notification of Prinz Grizzley’s new album, Tilda, scheduled for early October release. The album will draw on dark elements of Appalachian folk and bluegrass to tell the story of Tilda, his grandmother, and the album, we’re told, is “occasionally bleak and intense with sparks of hope spread throughout. It’s an album that feels like a rainy day, where the fog parts just in time to watch the sunset behind the mountains“. Chris Comper is a clever and creative artist and it’s good to have some new recordings from him. Tilda will be one to look out for in October and you can keep track of his recordings, and upcoming live appearances, at the Prinz Grizzley website.
We missed the latest album, Stormy Sea, from Dutch outfit, Juneville, when it was first released earlier this year. Time to put that omission right, as it is too good to go unremarked on.
Juneville is, to all intents and purposes, the recording vehicle for the songs of singer-songwriter Pieter Nabbe. It all started when he wrote a song about the losss of a close friend to illness, never having written a song prior to this, he was 45 at the time. That song, Take A Ride, attracted the attention of Arnhem record label, Kroese Records, who encouraged Nabbe to write more songs. Juneville’s first album, In The Garden, was released in 2016. “The record was put together with whoever was available. Back then I listened a lot to Nick Lowe, Richard Hawley, Bill Callahan, The Villagers and Wilco (still do). I was lucky to find good musicians to form a band for live shows, but they come and go…”
Now, some 10 years later, Stormy Sea is Juneville’s fourth album and Nabbe has matured into a songwriter of considerable ability. So much so, that none other than folk/country rock maestro Iain Matthews agreed to provide backing vocals for a couple of the songs. The album is produced by Dutch musician BJ Baartmans, a long time collaborator with Iain Matthews, who introduced him to Nabbe. He liked the songs and agreed to appear on the album (he can be heard on the tracks, River’s Tune, and Sugar Coated Days). Nabbe’s songs are rooted in the day to day, but take in such diverse subjects as investigative journalism, mass hysteria, and the simple beauty of life itself. These are good songs and you can hear the range of Nabbe’s influences as they shift from rock to folk to country, and all ports in between, while still retaining a distinct identity of their own. And that band name? “I like the month of June, springtime, everything blossoms and summer arrives“.
We’re heading to Iceland for a brace of new releases, starting with outstanding singer-songwriter Arny Margret, whose 2025 album, I Miss You I Do, attracted great reviews from critics and public alike. She shares a personal cover of Prins Póló’s Hakk og Spaghettí, revisiting a song she first performed in tribute to the late Icelandic artist and musician, while also celebrating the 50-year history of Hljóðriti, the studio that has played a defining role in her own musical journey.
Prins Póló, the musical project of Icelandic artist Svavar Pétur Eysteinsson, was an important figure in Arny Margret’s life and work, with the pair crossing paths creatively throughout her early career. He helped to create the cover of her first EP Intertwined and often helped with harmony vocals on her early recordings. Following Prins Póló’s death from cancer in 2022, a memorial concert was held in his honour in 2023, bringing together artists who had known him to each perform one of his songs. Margret chose Hakk og Spaghettí, which translates roughly as ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’, a song that tells the story of a man inviting his girlfriend over for dinner, only for the evening to go spectacularly wrong. Arny recorded her version of the track, but it remained tucked away until another piece of Icelandic musical history prompted her to return to it.
In 2025, Hljóðriti, one of Iceland’s oldest recording studios, and one that has great significance for Magret, marked its 50th anniversary. For A documentary series tracing Hljóðriti’s history aired on Icelandic national television earlier this year, with artists connected to the studio subsequently recording covers of songs from its past in celebration of the anniversary. It was then that Arny remembered the version of Prins Póló’s song she had recorded years earlier. The resulting recording connects several threads in Arny Margret’s story; a friendship and creative relationship with an artist who left a lasting mark on her, a song discovered through the act of paying tribute, and a studio that has been part of almost every chapter of her musical career. What began as a performance in memory of a friend has become a celebration of the people and places that have helped shape her as an artist.
Icelandic singer-songwriter Ásgeir is releasing a Deluxe Edition of his fifth album, Julia, which came out at the start of the year. The new edition, released on September 9th via One Little Independent Records will feature four bonus tracks, his new single Hunter.
After years of engaging translators such as John Grant and working with the poetry of his father, Einar Georg Einarsson, this album saw Ásgeir penning his lyrics by himself for the first time in his career. The result was a contemplative body of work, steeped in nostalgia and meditating on past regrets and hopes for the future, guided by the spectre of the album’s title character.
Ásgeir has become one of Iceland’s most successful musical exports, breaking through with Dýrð í dauðaþögn, the best-selling debut album in Icelandic history, before introducing international audiences to its English-language counterpart In the Silence. He has continued to grow as an artist with albums Afterglow, Bury the Moon, Time on My Hands, and now Julia. Following an American tour, he is now touring throughout Europe during September. Find venue details here.
Finally, we have something very different and very interesting. Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer, Susanne Sundfør announces her new album Revelations Of Divine Love, which will be released in early October. This is the follow up to her 2023 album, blómi. A lot has changed in the intervening years, with Sundfør quiting city life to live in the Norwegian countryside, having become a mother of two. Revelations of Divine Love is the artist’s 8th album and has been strongly influenced by the writings of the 14th-century English mystic Julian of Norwich. Also known as Mother Julian, she was a medieval English Catholic anchoress, a kind of religious hermit. Sundfør’s album was recorded live in a Norwegian church, using only voice and a pipe organ, giving musical life to the words of Julian of Norwich, drawing exclusively from Grace Warrack’s landmark 1901 translation of Revelations of Divine Love, the first known book written in English by a woman.
No, it’s not americana, but it does show some of the roots of European folk and sacred music that, in turn, have influenced country and folk music from the U.S and, for that reason, and the fact that Sundfør has the most beautiful, haunting voice that is well served by these recordings, we think it’s something that will be of interest to many of our readers. Apparently, Sundfør first encountered Julian while reading about medieval women whose voices had been erased from history. She found herself captivated not only by Julian’s extraordinary story but by the radical tenderness of her theology. “We live in a world of horror, full of unhappy, unsatisfied people doing terrible things to each other. You don’t have to be religious to believe that love is the answer. Swap the word God for love and you have a higher power that is universal.” She worked with Mercury Prize nominee, Kit Downes, to relise her vision of turning Julian of Norwich’s words into a musical album of contemporary relevance. Downes co-composed the score with Sundfør and selected the Norwegian church whose organ became the album’s second voice. This is something very different from an artist who has built a career on constant reinvention and it shows the breadth of creativity that European artists are bringing to the growing interest in roots based music.
You can find out more about this fascinating project at the artist’s website.
Please remember – if you are an americana-influenced artist operating out of mainland Europe and have new music or a tour to promote, let me know. Contact information is on the webzine page under ‘Info’. This column is published on the last Thursday of every month throughout the year.
