Scandinavian Retro 2023

To stand out in a field where the obvious signifiers are the most common, and therefore the most clichéd, elements, one has to know when to try something different. Amorphis had already shown itself to be a more than competent end-of-the-century Scandinavian black metal outfit, but there were plenty of others equally able to say the same. The inspired turning point had two points of origin - recruiting another lead vocalist, Pasi Koskinen, to sing with Tomi Koivusaari, and deciding to record an album infused with earlier Finnish folk influences, both musically and lyrically. The choice of lyrical inspiration, Finland's national epic The Kalevala, isn't necessarily surprising given how often metal of all kinds has favored tales of dungeons and grue…

The rare dance-pop opus that hangs together as an album first and a collection of songs second, the fourth full-length by Norwegian pop auteur Bertine Zetlitz - a bona fide star in her homeland though virtually unknown elsewhere - is a musical and emotional masterstroke: strange, stirring, seductive, spellbinding. Given her roots in electronic pop, and those of producer Fred Ball (aka Pleasure), with whom Zetlitz wrote every song on the album, it's surprisingly, refreshingly organic in sound. Over half of the tracks feature live drums, and even those that don't find some way of generating a resoundingly human warmth - washes of steel guitar here, a smoldering saxophone lead there - within a loose, underlying synth pop framework. Although it's not overtly retro, the effect recalls the lush electric pianos and full band feel of '70s funk and disco rather than the icy, synthesized, '80s electro that was such a prevalent 2000s touchstone…