Following on from yesterday's Siv Jakobsen post, how about we stick with some more brilliant Nordic music? Though they currently live in Wales, I SEE RIVERS (AKA Eline, Gøril and Lill) are all originally from Norway. Having impressed fans (like me) with their beautiful harmonies and fun performances (I saw them supporting Cosmo Sheldrake in 2018 and loved their set - especially the fact they were knitting merch along the way, if I remember correctly...) the trio released their debut album Deep & Rolling Green in 2020.
The timing of the release meant that they weren't able to perform shows to promote it, instead sticking to online events. Finally, however, they're heading out on the belated D&RG tour this month! To celebrate, and to mark the start of another chapter (I hope!) they've shared their first single since the album, Your Love.
Talking about the track, they explain: "the song itself portrays a relationship that is coming to an end from the perspective of someone who is obsessively trying to find rhyme or reason in the words and actions of the other part. The almost anthemic chorus contrasts the painful acknowledgment that the relationship is not working out anymore and is now only ground for pain and difficulties."
Really excited to share that the brilliant debut album from I See Rivers is finally out in the world! A while in the making, it's a triumphant record charting the several years of the band's existence so far, since meeting at university in Liverpool (though they're all originally from Norway). Loving it. The record was made in the renovated chapel StudiOwz with Owain Jenkins, Toby Couling, Alec Brits and Emilie Krogh Johannessen.
On the record, the band explain that "preparing for and recording this album has been a really long process. Since this is our first full length album some of these songs were written while we were still in uni 7 years ago, while some of the songs were written especially for the album. All three of us write songs for the band and for the album we decided to write most of the songs individually. We wanted to explore how it would sound if we let our individual style come through in the writing and then making it sound 'like I See Rivers' in the way we produced the songs in the end. When we started recording the album we decided that we would have no boundaries and let the music flow in the direction it needed to."
Following recent singles How, Collide and Helios, the album arrives alongside the single release of Grow & Go, a track written during the university years, but finished up in the idyllic welsh countryside that the band have settled themselves into. On the track, the trio explain "the song is about waking up in a relationship that's gone stagnant without realising how you got there, standing on the edge of letting it go. It's about understanding that everything in life has an expiry date, and that there's beauty in that as it offers opportunities to grow and evolve amidst the sadness, grief and loneliness."
I am delighted to learn that I SEE RIVERS are releasing their debut album Deep & Rolling Green on 2nd October. Following a string of recent singles including How and Collide, the trio are back with brand new tune Dying Moon. It's one of the more delicate tracks of the record, with those three part harmonies sending shivers up (and down, and up) your spine. Exquisite.
Originally from Norway, the trio met in Liverpool while studying, and moved to Pembrokeshire after recording their first EP at StudiOwz, a studio in a converted chapel. They returned to the chapel to record their debut with Owain Jenkins, Toby Couling, Alex Brits and Emilie Krogh Johannessen - the record was created with support from PRS Momentum Fund, Music Norway, PRS Women Make Music, BBC Launchpad and their fans via Kickstarter. It's a very communal project!
On the new track, the trio share that "Dying Moon was written on a cold and windy evening in Tenby a few years ago and was heavily influenced by Ernest Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea'. The song is about devoting your whole soul and all your effort into someone or something, and only realising you've gone too far when it's already too late. [...] we wanted this track to be the time where you take a deep breath and imagine yourself floating out to sea just as the story illustrates so beautifully."
Continuing on the theme of sublime harmonies kicked off by my MICHELLE post yesterday, here's the latest from I See Rivers. The Norwegian (via Liverpool and Pembrokeshire) trio have been a favourite of mine since I saw them supporting Cosmo Sheldrake a couple of years ago - complete with the band selling their freshly knitted and limited edition merch from the stage. I loved the music and their personalities shone through in the performance. With help from PRS Momentum Fund, Music Norway, PRS Women Make Music, BBC Launchpad and a fan campaign on Kickstarter, they've recently finished work on their debut album. How is the fourth single to be taken from the album.
The track uses the legend of Perseus and Andromeda to tell a turbulent love story, with the trio's trademark multi-layered harmonies sitting atop synths to make another brilliant electro-pop track. In their words - "through Andromeda's eyes, the song echoes her deep understanding of her connecting to Perseus and her belief that even through hardships and turmoil, they have always been destined to be together - even after death she and Perseus are to spend the rest of their existence as constellations in the sky.
"Although drawn from the Greek myth, the deeper and more personal message of the song is about the need to make sense of things whilst battling the fear of losing face and understanding." The debut album from I See Rivers is due later this year.
I'm really excited by this group - Nordic trio I SEE RIVERS first came onto my radar when they opened for Cosmo Sheldrake last November. Their enthusiasm, harmonies and unique sound make them a really fun band to see live and I've kept an ear out since for new music. Eline (keys, vocals, percussion), Gøril (guitar, vocals, drum pad) and Lill (drums, vocals) are all originally from Norway, meeting in Liverpool while studying and moving to Pembrokeshire in Wales after they recorded their first EP in the area and fell in love with it.
With support from PRS Foundation, BBC Launchpad and their fans via Kickstarter, the trio are in the process of making their debut album, set for release in 2020. For now, whet your appetite with new single Collide. Talking about the track, they explain that "the themes of 'Collide' are of conflict and reconciliation, turbulence and transparency. In contrast to the familiar voices and relatable lyrics, the production of the song is both more contemporary and more adventurous than our previous releases, focusing more on creating space using a combination of gritty, acoustic sounds and sweeping, synthesised elements."
Norwegian trio I See Rivers opened for Cosmo Sheldrake on his UK tour at the end of 2018 and their set at Earth Hackney was genuinely all kinds of wonderful. With an infectious energy the trio brought energy to the room with their fun melodies, gorgeous harmonies and endearing personalities. While adding tracks to my playlist on Friday I noticed that they'd just released a new track - Helios is taken from their forthcoming debut record, which they're recording this year with help from the PRS Women Make Music grant. Check out the track below...
If you take a quick glance through the posts I've shared this year it's probably not much of a surprise that Cosmo Sheldrake is likely to feature in my albums of the year post (coming soon... when I get time to write it!) I was therefore VERY excited to catch the London date of his The Much Much How How & I tour last week, as I've been eagerly awaiting a full live set since catching him supporting Johnny Flynn at The Roundhouse last October. Describe the show in a short sentence...? Complete and utter genius.
The gig took place in newly launched venue EartH in Hackney, which has instantly become one of my new favourite London venues. Formerly known as Hackney Arts Centre, the venue (full title Evolutionary Arts Hackney) is a "progressive and essential multi-arts space for the 21st century". They aim to be inclusive to all and to provide a broad spectrum of arts to live audiences. The space itself is the site of the Savoy Cinema, which opened back in the 1930s. After the show I took myself to Google and did a little research, finding this article from the Hackney Citizen about 'long lost cinemas' in Hackney which explains that there have been over 60 cinemas in the area, with around 30 operating simultaneously between 1920 and 1950. While the majority of the sites have been redeveloped into flats, supermarkets and buildings of similar purpose, it is particularly heartwarming to see the Savoy being used as a cultural hub once more. It's a unique space and I hope that it thrives!
Gigging alone and having travelled down to London straight from a shift at work, I took myself down to the front of the venue, settled down with a book, and waited for the first set. Finnegan Tui took to the stage with his guitar, but any expectations I had for just-another-solo-male-artist-with-an-acoustic-guitar were quickly torn away. At just 18, his talent is pretty mind-blowing and his style incredibly difficult to pigeonhole. He very quickly informed us that Cosmo was one of his favourite musicians and an inspiration for him and it was easy to hear this in elements of his performance, but he was particularly individual, at one point using a drum pad to play a solo with samples of an oboe. I'll certainly be keeping an ear out for Finn in the future!
Next up, tour support I See Rivers took to the stage. Often at gigs it can feel as if you're willing time to pass quickly for the support sets so that you can watch the artist you came along to see, but during their set I was very quickly struck with the thought that I'd happily have gone along to see both supports playing their own show (a similar thought occurred to me when I first saw Cosmo play, in fact!) They're a Norwegian trio playing folk music with an infectiously positive stage presence and beautiful harmonies, and they warmed the crowd up wonderfully.
With a lot of anticipation in the air, Cosmo finally took to the stage, and opened his set with my favourite track The Moss. Things could only get better from here... right?! Right. We were treated to the likes of Hocking and Pliocene from his record, but highlights of the set came in the form of improvisations, which cemented my pre-existing view that Cosmo is an absolute genius. It was a treat, and almost intimidating to witness him creating quality music on the spot, in front of a sold out crowd. Two examples of creative craziness came in the shape of gargling some water and looping it, and looping the noise of a desk-fan brushing against the microphone.
I'd anticipated dancing, and a previously relaxed crowd couldn't hold it in once Cosmo played the utter tune Come Along. Fans flocked down to the front of the auditorium and didn't stop dancing for the rest of the show, which featured a collaboration with I See Rivers on Rich, a sunflower dance troupe (no, seriously) for Wriggle and a brass band for Hocking, which I would place as one of the best tracks I've heard this year. An explosion of sound, and what feels like an insight into the inner workings of Cosmo's mind, it is truly something to experience live. Here's a video from his last London show...
To sum up - from what I've seen of Cosmo on stage and online, he seems to completely adore what he does, giving it his all to create the best work he possibly can. He is an incredibly talented and intelligent human being (in the best way possible, a Cosmo Sheldrake gig feels like attending a science lesson) and he is creating music that sounds like nothing I have ever heard before. To watch his live show is genuinely a privilege. I implore you to listen to his record and catch him live if you get the chance!
