#kalandra

Når du stend i stormen vert du blind/When you stand in the storm you go blind

Alt eg ser er berre svart og kvitt (All I see is just black and white)

Kalandra - The Line Folk rock

Kalandra is a four-piece band from Oslo, Norway. Their style is deeply rooted in Nordic folk music and culture, which means their music is an insanely cool combo of ethereal, brooding songs tinged with heavy metal straight from the forests of Scandinavia.

Their debut album The Line, released back in 2021, starts with the bone-chilling track Borders, waves rolling softly in the background as Katrine's voice cries out. The album then takes you through the whole range of human emotion, from the anxiety and guilt of an abusive relationship on The Waiting Game, to loneliness and losing yourself on the fully Norwegian tracks Ensom and Virkelighetens Etterklang, to a foreboding warning of an increasingly authoritarian future on Brave New World, aptly named after Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel.

Don't even get me started on lead singer Katrine Stenbekk's incredible voice. I've heard people on the internet compare her to AURORA, and they're totally right. Her voice is gentle and soft, like a beautiful cloud of mist floating above the music, but booming and commanding when it needs to be.

Full disclosure, I discovered Kalandra a couple years ago, but between then and now I've only listened to them, like, once or twice, which is a goddamn shame, because they're too good for that. My favorite tracks off The Line are Ensom and Naive, but make sure to check out their 2024 album A State of Mind, too! The song "I Am" from that album was one of my favorite songs of last year.

WILLOW - ARDIPITHECUS Alternative pop, neo soul

Willow Smith emerged in 2010 as an elementary school pop star with her debut single Whip My Hair. Remember that song? Because when I listened to her debut album Ardipithecus, I was thinking, holy shit, is this even the same person? The answer is fuck no.

Although Willow is 25 years old now, she was still a high schooler when she wrote her debut album, and like any high schooler, it's clear she was experiencing a lot of change when she was writing the album. While Whip My Hair was an upbeat R&B track, her style shifts completely on Ardipithecus to a blend of alternative, art pop, and neo soul, with her confident, soulful voice overlaying rhythmic synths and guitars. In an interview with Fader, she says she named the album after the scientific name of the first hominid bones found on earth because she in such a "transitional state, digging deep in the soil of my heart."

Wait a Minute!, the album's lead single, is without a doubt the best track off the album. Despite being over a decade old, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me it came out yesterday. It's smooth and so damn catchy, and it'll probably be my song of the summer.

"And I cried at the curb

When you first said, oel ngati kameie"

Some other standouts from Ardipithecus are "Star" and "Waves of Nature," two bouncy, synth-focused tracks that remind me of house music. "UR Town" is a darker track that touches on the want to dance with a past lover, but knowing it'll never happen, and "Marceline" is an emotional tribute to Adventure Time's best character. Can you tell a 15 year-old wrote this? (She says Lady Unicorn instead of Lady Rainicorn, but whatever. Blame copyright.)

To be honest, there are a lot of songs on this album that I just can't get into, no matter how hard I try. Tracks like 'Organization & Classification' and 'dRuGz' are super experimental and ambitious, but pretty hard to listen to. The lyrics are filled with angst and restlessness, but there's no melody to them and it just feels like an existential crisis that doesn't translate super well into music. But all in all, Ardipithecus is a really interesting listen and I'm super excited to check out more of Willow's stuff!

LANKS - Twentyseven Electronic pop

I never expected to love this album as much as I do, but I've been listening to it all week. Twentyseven, the debut album from Australian producer Will Cuming aka LANKS, is more than an electronic album, and LANKS is more than just a producer. Twentyseven is a gentle, earnest, and catchy pop album, and Will's emotional vocals are the cherry on top.

The album starts softly with the track "Man," Will sings about the blossoming of a new love; wanting to hold his lover's hand and "face it like a man." It builds up to a soaring chorus at the end of the song, before transitioning to "Something in the Water," its soft guitar riff looming in the background like ocean waves. The middle of the album is more upbeat. "My Own Mystery" is insanely catchy. It reflects on how even when his partner was miles away, she inspires him to continue growing by himself. "Circles" and "Bitter Leaf" are more influenced by R&B, and they touch on the hurt of a past relationship he's since left behind.

The next few tracks, Horoscopes, Holla, and Reticent are more experimental. They use more samples and louder synths, but their lyrics and melodies are just as intimate. Reticent, on the other hand, takes the album in a darker direction. It's a spoken word hip-hop inspired track, and it's 100% worth a listen.

"Well, crush me all you like, it won't help you breathe

When you shoot me down, doesn't say anything 'bout me

And equally, if I am reticent and I construct with eloquence

Maybe I can help you find your dreams"

The album closes with Icarus, which might be one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life. He starts by asking "Is it all for me? Is it something like a dream?", and ends by asking "Tacey, will you marry me?" And I'm sorry, but proposing with a song you wrote is the cutest thing in the world. Give twentyseven a listen!