Made in Norway - Volume 11: Kygo, Matoma, Hedda Mae, MaVe, Siv Jacobsen and Rine
Also featuring Sigrid, Skaar, Aurora, Moyka, Sol Strøm, Dagny, Maih, Tulle, KlossMajor, Benjamin Giørtz, Mohan Evans, King Creosote, Utopia Festival and Vier.Live.
Hello and welcome back to Made in Norway where I bring you some brilliant new music happening just over the North Sea. Newsletter viewers can see the full longer read on the website.
🎶 Starting off with news from Norwegian house DJ, songwriter and record producer Kygo who will release his long awaited and first self titled album Kygo this coming Friday. A former student at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh who cites Avicii among his inspirations, he has worked with the likes of Ed Sheeran, and made music and digital history by becoming the first artist to reach a billion streams on Spotify faster than any other artists. His new album is a two year long creative piece of work and has also resulted in collaborations with Ålesund’s own Sigrid, for The Feeling which will be released in just a few weeks time. They also headline the bill at Utopia Festival in Stavanger in August. Kygo’s world tour with UK and Ireland dates included also kicks-off in September.
🔉 A summer banger too from hit making DJ and producer Matoma who has team-up with singer Skaar to release ‘You Found Me’ just in time for the summer season and his tour dates. It’s the first track to be written and produced in Tom’s own studio in Oslo. Click the link below to see the recording in progress. Skaar and her band are also touring now.
😎 Keeping the summer vibe going and Bergan artist Hedda Mae released her brand new single Blow A Kiss on Friday. She wrote the song in collaboration with Benjamin Giørtz, who also produced. It’s as bubble gum pop as you can possibly chew.
🎵 Oslo based songwriter and producer MaVe is back with a new track and shift in sound with the dance based floor thumper Extraordinary. Of her new era, she said: "I wanted to create a danceable track as an opposite of the emotional and minimalistic productions I sometimes tend to lean into. I hope it can inspire people to get rid of negative impacts in their lives."
💙 Aurora’s latest album What Happened To The Heart came out on June 7. She added an Edinburgh date to her European tour, and has just released details of a London gig happening next year.
👗 Dagny’s second album ELLE is out now complete with interview in magazine Elle Norge and this 10 question video below.
🕊 An exquisite set of cover versions from Siv Jakobsen includes tracks from Fife’s own King Creosote and Jon Hopkins track Bats in the Attic and this beautiful interpretation of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven. The full EP, bird’s-eye view, is available here.
📺 Another creation with a Norwegian-Scottish link will see Mohan Evans streaming Oslo based platform with Vier.Live on Thursday with a Q&A session and after party room as part of a live fundraising event towards his next EP. He’s included an insight into the cost of making and promoting new music here. If you are new to his tracks then a real treat is in store with his music rich in depth, storytelling and soul.
💻 Vier.Live also has Sol Strøm streaming live showcasing her new EP Overflow which includes tracks Another Hopeless Thing, Ocean, Hell Of It, How To Stay In This and Should Have Been. Find all Vier.Live’s upcoming shows here.
🎹 After her As Long As You’re Here remix was featured by the international hit Netflix show Young Royals, artist and producer Moyka has been working on her new live show which hits the road next month, fresh from her weekend appearance at Berganfest. Dates in the link below.
🐚 The debut EP from Rine is out on Friday. You can pre-save Sound Of A Seashell are at this link.
🧅 Oslo based Tulle has released a debut new EP - Onions - described as being a record that ‘explores what it feels like to peel back layers, revisit the past and grieve each memory, before letting it go.’ The first track, Eulogy, was written four years aho when she suffered grief and heartbreak. It is joined by an angry, grungy, beat-heavy sound from You're Scaring Me which she says signifies both an end and a beginning to the project. "The song describes watching someone's descent into madness and being unable to help them, knowing that you have to pull away before they take you down with them," said TULLE. "After someone has pushed your boundaries time and time again, is it finally time to cut them off?"
🌹KlossMajor have revealed Naturen, their third album, is on the way this autumn along with details of a tour starting in Norway.
🎧 Also just released is What I Know Now from Maih which she describes as a coming of age track. It’s also the first from her forthcoming debut EP.
💼 The Norwegian Embassy in London is hiring for an adviser on arts and culture, initially for a year starting this coming August. Details at its website. Deadline for applications is June 26.