Scandi americana rules this month, with plenty of activity from Norway, Finland and Sweden!
We’re a little late to the party with this one, as the eponymously titled debut album from Thomas & The Angry Hearts was released earlier in the year, but having recently discovered this Norwegian americana band, they are well worth bringing to your attention.
The band are a relatively recent project and were discovered at a festival in 2022 by hard rock guitarist Ronni Le Tekrø, who worked with them to create this debut album, with recording completed in 2024, when they signed with Southbound Records. The album was officially released in the spring of 2025. It’s a fascinating album, not least given the band members’ varied musical backgrounds. Thomas himself (Thomas Ǻdland, vocals & guitar) spent ten years in a punk band, bassist Stig Terge Inderberg comes from country and Norwegian folk music, guitarist Nils Stian Aasheim and drummer Leiv-Rune Gully come from hard rock, and keyboards and vocalist Hilde B. Ǻdland has a background in pop music and singing with choirs. Quite an eclectic combination!
My introduction to the band came via the single ‘We’re All Here Now‘, which was written by Thomas following an intervention with his drug addicted brother and the need to prepare his house and belongings for a forced sale. “We Are All Here Now is for my brother, who I will always love — someone who went through a kind of hell I can’t truly imagine. Even though I was angry at him in that moment, I knew he was suffering far more than I was. He still sometimes finds it hard to hear the song live, but he’s been sober for nearly five years now, and we have a good relationship today. Although it’s painful to look back, he wants the song to live on — as a reminder of a place he never wants to return to“. (Thomas’ brother agreed to let him talk about the reason behind this song). It’s a powerful piece of songwriting and a good indication of what the band are all about, good songs about real-life situations. So, it’ll be interesting to hear their next single, which will be a Christmas song, we’re told! They’re hoping to do some live dates in the UK sometime in 2026, and we’ll definitely list those when they happen. Thomas & The Angry Hearts are ones to watch.
Staying in Norway; we’ve recently featured a couple of singles released as teasers for the new album from Licking the Moose, and we’re pleased to tell you that the album itself will be released on vinyl and on streaming services on Friday the 26th September. The album’s title is “Songs From The Valley Of The Nearly Dead“. Frontman Lasse Karlsen told us that, “the album was quite frustrating to record. This time, the producer wanted us to do it in a completely different way and did everything he could to get us out of our comfort zone. As a live band, we have pretty much always recorded the basic groove and vocals quite quickly, at the same time, before adding more instruments. This time, the songs were built up gradually, which we, as a live band, find quite challenging to deal with. The process also took 3-4 times as long as before. But the result was a great sound and the most well-produced album we have ever made“. Judging by the advance tracks we’ve heard, producer Dag Erik deserves a lot of credit for helping the band realise such an ambitious project, which is quite cinematic in its scope. You should be able to find more information on the release via the band’s Facebook page.
We also have news of a new single from Norwegian trio Drømmeslottet. ‘The Flying Stone‘, was released on August 22 via The Orchard, and sees the band beginning a new chapter, following their previous collaboration with Steve Wickham from The Waterboys.
This time, Drømmeslottet has written, recorded and produced this first in a trilogy of songs that “blends elements of folk, americana and Nordic stillness“. The other two songs in the trilogy, ‘Oxford Shoes‘ and ‘The House‘, will be released on October 3rd and November 14th respectively. It’s a distinctly Nordic take on americana but, like a lot of the americana influenced music emerging from Northern Europe, its links back to American roots music are obvious, and there’s a refreshing honesty to this song that suggests the other songs in the trilogy will be well worth a listen.
Moving away from Norway, all the way to Finland, we have a new release from the 60s inspired duo, Lone Deer Laredo. This will be the first single from their planned third album (the third of seven!) recorded in Nashville with producer Brad Jones, who has worked with the likes of John Prine, Hayes Carll and Justin Townes Earle, among a host of others. The duo are Paola Suhonen & Olli Happonen, and they’re an interesting combination of talents. Happonen fronts the Finnish Indie Rock band, New Silver Girl, while Suhonen is a visual artist and founder of the fashion house, Ivana Helsinki. Together they produce a dreamy, retro psychedelic take on americana that is well represented by this new song, ‘Golden Chosen Playmate‘. The single releases on the 29th August, with Volume 3 of their album cycle scheduled for an October release.
The Scandinavians are really dominating this month, with Swedish trio Isobel releasing the follow-up to their debut single ‘Ally‘, which was much praised by the American music blog, Ones to Watch, which primarily showcases new talent. The single was also well received by student radio back in Sweden when it was released earlier this year. The new single, ‘Put Yourself Down‘, is now out, and they’re planning an EP release for November. The band are Isabel Sondén, John Bergevald and Filip Sjölander and the track was recorded in what they call “the studio”, a windowless municipal-type room with ceiling tiles you can push up, and a setup held together by GarageBand. There’s a distinct Neil Young vibe about this new single and it’ll be interesting to see where Isobel go from here.
Moving away from Scandinavia, we have a couple of bits of news from Germany, where Tobias Panwitz, who was last mentioned in these pages for his Anglo-German duet with Jason McNiff, has just announced a sizeable string of German appearances that starts on the 11th September and will take him through to October 2026. There are some 40 dates in total, but there are gaps in the itinerary that suggest he might be lining up additional dates a little further afield. You can find all the dates and details on his website.
We also have some new music from that prolific songwriter, Mathias Gaede and his bunch of musical collaborators. Mathias can always be relied on to put out something interesting and ‘Get Smart Baby‘ is no exception. Working again with lyricist Peter Wesley Bastone and with a recording unit that includes Nashville drummer Jake Bartlett, alongside keyboard player Chantal Hartmaan and singer Howard Scarr, among others, ‘Get Smart Baby’ is a cool slice of country rock that will put a smile on your face. You can find details of this and all Gaede releases at his Bandcamp page.
And finally, almost inevitably, we find ourselves back in Norway! Closing the column this month is the Oslo-based quartet Silver Lining. Considered something of a ‘super group’ on home territory, the band combines members of two prominent Norwegian bands, The Northern Belle and Louien. In October, they will be releasing a covers EP called Four Little Songs, featuring covers of tracks by Gillian Welch, Jason Isbell and Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman. Sweetening the ears in preparation for that EP, they’re releasing their version of the Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman track, ‘Right Back To It‘ (released August 29th on Die With Your Boots On Records). It’s a beautifully realised version and Silver Lining’s harmonies and the way the track builds is a joy to hear. Unfortunately, you’ll have to take our word for it as we don’t have a shareable version available, but you can hear how they sound on their Bandcamp page and, no doubt, once the single is released, it will be available there as well.
That’s it from Vox Continental for another month. The summer is over, see you in September!
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 goes out on the last Thursday of the month throughout the year.
