From migratory birds to dream-folk - top music picks from Scandinavia

Some of the most refreshing music of the last year or two has come from Scandinavia. Bands from Sweden like Kolonien, blended Swedish/Norwegian bands like Aevestaden and even the Swedish/Scottish/Finnish/Norwegian melange that is Siskin Quartet. So it’s time to introduce you to some of these Nordic delights...

Siskin Quartet are a melding together of two remarkable duos. English-born fiddler Bridget Marsden and accordionist Leif Ottosson – outstanding proponents of Swedish folk – are joined with Scottish-Finnish-Norwegian duo Sarah-Jane Summers (fiddle) and Juhani Silvola (guitar), whose succession of dazzling albums have impressed music lovers and critics alike.  

Their 2022 album, Flight Paths, takes its inspiration from the theme of migratory birds, reflecting the band members’ own relocations from country to country. All four musicians contribute original pieces, and the variety of styles – and birdlife – is wide-ranging, from Summer’s jaunty opening, ‘The Peewit,’ to Silvola’s gently atmospheric conclusion, ‘Albatrossi.’

The nine tracks cleverly evoke distinct characteristics of the wildlife involved. ‘The Siskin Reel’ is a lively little tune, reflecting the eponymous yellow-green finch, while ‘Firefinch’ (a small, fiery-red African bird) is appropriately a desert blues polska, showcasing Silvola’s shimmering electric guitar, with fiddles and accordion darting hither and thither.

The backdrop is a familiar terrain of polskas, waltzes and reels but Siskin Quartet show a delightful willingness to experiment making Flight Paths, like the migratory journeys of the birds, an adventure in itself.

The first few years of this decade have been dominated by climate change, pandemics, wars... so there’s an urgent need to raise people’s spirits. Swedish band Kolonien, with their 2022 Till Skogen, bring some much-needed joy and optimism. It’s a wonderfully uplifting album, from the opening track ‘Time Will Tell,’ (a determinedly upbeat anthem, despite the climate emergency theme) to the closing ‘Unlearning.’ As invigorating as a cold, sunny, Swedish morning, Kolonien have the freshness of The Cardigans’ early albums while, at the same time, sounding like a Nordic version of Fleet Foxes.

Taking their name from a Swedish term for community gardening Kolonien is rooted in Scandinavian traditional folk music and the Swedish Green movement. It’s a family affair - guitarist brothers Erik and Arvid Rask and their cousin Anna Möller (violin, viola d'amore and Hardanger fiddle) plus percussionist Mischa Grind. (Anna has sadly recently left the band.)

For the most part, the successive tracks on Till Skogen hurtle along, driven by Grind’s ever-sympathetic and imaginative percussion accompaniment, with an atmospheric interlude – ‘Nattsudd’ – featuring Möller’s Hardanger fiddle. It’s a strikingly well-constructed album, the opening and closing tracks are sung in English, the rest mainly in Swedish, with the vocals and instrumentation blending beautifully.

When I first heard Ævestaden’s 2021 debut album Ingen Mere Gråter, I was captivated by the Swedish/Norwegian trio’s fusion of traditional instruments with electronica and vocals. Since then, the band have toured several European countries and were nominated for a Songlines Music Award, so I was excited to hear of the release of their second album, 2023’s Solen var bättre där, (the enigmatic title of which could be translated as The Sun Was Better There.)

There are three elements to Ævestaden’s sound. First, the raindrop-like, ostinato motifs plucked on traditional Scandinavian instruments such as the kravik-lyre and kantele. (Even Levina Storåkern’s violin is often plucked rather than bowed.)

The acoustic instruments are underpinned by the subtle, minimalist electronics, sounding pleasingly gritty and dirty at times, as if produced by an old analogue synth you might find in Jean-Michel Jarre’s attic.

Finally, there are the pure, clear vocals, somewhat reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan, that seem to evoke an atmosphere of lullabies and nursery rhymes. All these elements combine to make Ævestaden’s dream-folk highly original, deeply atmospheric and completely enchanting.