daylies music: Swedesplease

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Swedesplease

Posted: 13 Jul 2009 07:51 AM PDT

Let me just tell it to you straight. I haven’t heard anything this promising in a long, long time. In fact, in terms of female singer-songwriters it’s been since I wrote repeatedly about Hajen (here) that I’ve been so excited about an artist. Skatan is the band name du jour of the Gothenburg based artist Simone Andersson Wingfors. And she’s the reason I’m all aflutter today.

How is it possible that a Swede can have such facility with the English language? For this English language speaker, who has a hard time searching for the right word or phrase on a daily basis, it’s even more impressive that the song “Shine” has such powerfully effective (yet simple) lyrics. Skatan’s songs have a bit of an improbable and undefinable trait that early Regina Spector songs had. Her vocals can be beautiful one moment and then dangerous the next. Listen for yourself and come to your own conclusion but for now color me impressed.

Order Skatan’s new EP direct from her MySpace page. And if you work in the Swedish music business I’d consider signing her up before one of your competitors beats you to the punch.

Shine
Surprises

P.S. And totally unrelated but here’s the most recent video from Francis for their song “Take It Easy”