Scandinavian Songwriters with International Potential at SPOT
May 8, 2007
Mik Stegger |
Mouritz/Hørslev Projektet camping at SPOT.
For the last many years, the SPOT Festival has kept an eye on the Scandinavian singer/songwriter scene, and 2007 is no exception in that respect. Having served as the launching pad for such artists as Teitur, Tina Dico and Norwegian Thomas Dybdahl in the past, the festival once again presents a long list of fascinating artists who are best experienced live at small, intimate venues.
Why not start out in our own backyard? The festival audience will have the opportunity to get acquainted with Alice Rose. Rose is Danish but is currently a resident in Cologne. Among the instruments she uses for her songs are a computer, a toy chainsaw and a violin. Despite the Danish lyrics Mouritz/Hørslev Projektet is a cross-Atlantic collaborative project between the New York-resident Mads Mouritz and the scriptwriter Lone Hørslev. Then there are Marie Fisker, who invites us into a universe of bittersweet tones of rock, blues and country, and CS Nielsen grumbling his dusty country Americana. Hellraiser Ten, for their part, offer samples of their lo-fi minimalist bedroom indie while Katrine Ottosen performs her hushed, electronic pop.
Soon-to-be superstar according to PopTones boss Alan McGee – Tobias Fröberg.
From Sweden comes Tobias Fröberg, who has just signed with the big English record company PopTones. Fröberg has been heralded as the next big Scandinavian superstar by PopTones boss Alan Mcgee, and, seeing that Mcgee discovered both Oasis and The Hives, his words count for something, don’t they? Fröberg’s compatriot Ebba Forsberg has toured with the Lilith Fair and congenial Neil Finn, and she has long since proved tht she is up to such tasks.
In Iceland they also know how to spawn great songwriters, and SPOT is happy to present two of them. Pétur Ben has unfolded as a major supplier of offbeat yet catchy song writing. He arrives to the festival with a new album in the bag, an album which was proclaimed the album of the year by several Icelandic critics, and was nominated for the “Best Rock Album of the Year” at the Icelandic Music Awards. His friend and colleague Helgi Jonsson will also make a stopover in Aarhus with his great voice and his guitar-driven songs.
Pétur Ben – crooked and catchy.
Two Norwegian acts are going to find their way to the festival. Both Elvira Nikolaisen and Susanne Sundfør have their roots in the North American Singer/songwriter mould and find much of their inspiration in the music of artists such as Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell.
Nordic Co-writers Nordic Co-Writers is a new concept at SPOT and a project which runs parallel to the songwriters’ gigs at the festival. In the week leading up to the festival, twelve artists are going to collaborate in pairs on new songs. After writing and working on this new material on secluded locations, the songwriters are going to present the fruit of their labours on one of the festival stages. On the list of artists taking part in this project, you find Helgi Jonsson and CS Nielsen once again, and they will be joined by the Danes Jimmi Andersen, Sara Grabow, Kajsa Vala, and Mads Langer, Faroese Lena Anderssen, Angu Motzfeldt from Greenland, Norwegians Marte Wulff and Thom Hell, and Swedish Josefina Sanner.
SPOT’s Singer/songwriter stage as well as Nordic Co-writers are organised in collaboration with Roar Amundsen and Mayday Music
The SPOT Festival 2007 is going to take place in downtown Aarhus on June 1-2.
