Folke Nikanor
Folke Nikanor a musician from the northern parts of Sweden and debuts with a individual and sparkling instrumental album called ’Bottenviken’. It is based around the piano but with electronic elements, where old synths, percussion and wind instruments do their best to highlight the melancholy of Norrbotten and the forest. The scenery and people live in the melodies. There are moments that evokes very different artists such as Chilly Gonzales’ solo music, Swedish Lars Hollmer (whose immortal song ’Bo Eves Psalm’ is featured on the album, in a superb tribute version), Jan Johansson’s ’Jazz på Svenska’ and Kraftwerk’s synthetic soundscape. The songs tend to switch between majors and minors and do not always take the most obvious path, even though there are very direct and deeply moving melodies in every track. It’s a playful and deeply compelling collection of songs that make this impressive debut album from an artist we will hear much more from in the future. (Photo: Anna Drvnik)