Yndling - Time Time Time (I'm in the Palm of Your Hand) (2025)

A few months after this year's EP, Silje Espevik known as Yndling, released her sophomore album filled with the signature cute and dreamy pop music. She used the songs we already know and love and built an LP around them, making it one of the best dream pop albums of the second half of the year.

You can't help but smile when you hear Espevik's voice sounding like the summer evening sun touching your skin feels like. A bit dreamy, very melodic and soft. You don't need much more, it's enough to have hazy indie pop sounds around it and a perfect dream/indie pop music is being born. Especially that songs like Even if it's a Lie (I Don't Mind) and (especially!) As Fast As I Can are already imprinted onto my music mind since the June EP.

I like how the light and swift songs can, when it's necessary, be weighed down with some sweet guitar noise in the background, adding to the atmosphere and balancing the twee/tropical fragments (like in the trip-hop-esque title song) so well. The album is finished with two strong candidates for the best track at the album: the extremely catchy Falling Behind and the most artsy Some Things You Don't Get. There is a lot to choose from on this release, that's for sure.

Time Time Time (I'm in the Palm of Your Hand) costs 10 USD.

Check: As Fast As I Can

Country: Norway

Genre: soft dream pop

Label: Spirit Goth Records

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Julia Gjertsen & Gustav Davidsson - Wandering Mind, Drifting Weather (2025)

When two Scandinavian neoclassical artists come together to create a beautiful soundscape, it almost never disappoints. This time the Norwegian pianist and the Swedish trombonist charm not only with the sheer quality of the music but also with the a new and exciting (at least to me) match of instruments.

I'm not a fan of trumpet and similar instruments in music. I can't describe exactly what I dislike in those, but with some exception I tend to avoid trumpet-led compositions. And yet this album sounds so perfect! Especially that Gustav Davidsson manages to create melancholic sounds on the trombone without sounding too on the nose or even cringey. That's why it works so well with the subtle piano melodies that play the role of lively yet atmospheric backgrounds. 

As it is the case with many Scandinavia artists, Gjertsen and Davidsson are inspired by the weather in their countries that can be especially picturesque. Judging by the track titles, those days were very much Scandinavian-like: melancholia-inspiring and slow. If that was the case, the album makes a perfect soundtrack for them.

Wandering Mind, Drifting Weather costs 6 EUR (5 GBP).

Check: Black Cloud

Country: Norway/Sweden

Genre: trumpet-led neoclassical

Label: whitelabrecs

Julia Gjertsen & Juha Mäki-Patola - Dive (2023)

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Deaf Center - Reverie (2025)

Somehow this is only the first time the Norwegian duo Deaf Center appears on my blog. It's a shame for me as Erik K. Skodvin and Otto A. Totland create their works of art for over two decades now. But their dark improvisation had to eventually turn up here and I'm glad it's this beautiful, yet unsettling album.

The new album includes two long compositions that balance the darker and unnerving atmosphere with the beauty of piano notes. The slow pace of the darkness that is woven into this music makes me think of a winter morning that will turn into a bright day but for now is still cold and unwelcoming. The album was recorded live and, as it is mentioned on their Bandcamp page, "as always, the duo favours improvisation, and what emerged on this evening turned out to be a truly magical encounter". The piano, cello and guitar sounds glued together with dark electronica give out peculiar but addictive vibes.

Reverie costs 7 EUR.

Check: Rev

Country: Norway

Genre: dark neoclassical

Label: Sonic Pieces

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Vetle Nærø - All Moments Must Pass (2025)

From Moments

I know the Oslo-born neoclassical artist's music from 2023's album From Moments. This year, Vetle Nærø is back with even better album filled with piano, soft electronica and tons of self-reflective abilities. It's worth listening to, even if all moments must pass as the title suggests.

The fourth album in the artist's discography is all about intimacy. The soft piano keys and even softer electronica feels closer than the skin. The main theme of the tracks, the airy, ever-changing and never-repeated nature of life can't be more personal for any human being. The omnipresent atmosphere of the tiniest of concerts is the definition of intimacy. Apart for the music, the artist (I presume) published some very wise words on his BC account, saying that "Impermanence is often seen as a source of suffering, as human resistance to change can be a central cause of our pain. Yet, within this very resistance lies the potential for profound growth".

This is the main theme of the piano-driven album. The overall psychedelic/oriental theme is further established with the use of Alan Watts's monologue sample in First You Are Born and titles such as Mantra and any other as all of them are closely connected to the main thought. Everything passes, but somehow we will be ok.

All Moments Must Pass costs 10 EUR.

Check: First You Are Born

Country: Norway

Genre: electronica-touched neoclassical

Label: piano and coffee records

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Øystein Skar - Hem (2025)

The Norwegian pianist, most known for his role in the synthpop band Highasakite, Øystein Skar have released his solo debut via Moderna Records and the next sentences are probably very easy to predict: it's moody, it's atmospheric and it's the Norwegian landscape translated into piano notes.

The album is said to "merge the lyrical beauty of piano with the dynamic energy of electronic music, resulting in a fusion that is both innovative and compelling", but I have to say that I hear mostly the former. Hem, I'm sure it's not a coincidence that the title means "home" as the image of Norway is quite vivid in his music, at least in my ears, is all about slow, subtle piano compositions. There are parts where the faster, jazzy part of Skar's music education is audible, but it's rare. And yes, I'm happy they are. I'm here for the ambient music played on piano keys.

Hem costs 8 EUR (12 CAD).

Check: Ljos 

Country: Norway

Genre: piano soundscape

Label: Moderna Records

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Julia Gjertsen & Juha Mäki-Patola - Dive (2023)

While known for collaborating in the past, for Julia Gjertsen and Juha Mäki-Patola, Dive makes the first longer (although not very long) album made together. The piano sounds from Norway and the electronic soundscapes from Finland make a stunning whole together.

The result of the collaboration can be described as beautiful "glimpse(s) of melancholic and emotive piano melodies mixed together with lush and ambient textures". Those are inspired by the beauty of the Scandinavian nature with the titles of the compositions referring to specific aspects they want to focus on. While the central part of this music certainly is the piano, its beauty is not all here. From my perspective, it works even better than it would in an empty space with the darker notes provided by the super subtle electronica, making the compositions include both the beauty and the sadness.

Dive costs 3.5 EUR (3 GBP).

Check: When the Birds Start to Leave

Country: Norway/Finland

Genre: piano neoclassical

Label: bigo & twigetti

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Ole-Bjørn Talstad - Ferd (2023)

The Norwegian pianist and composer Ole-Bjørn Talstad released his debut album via Moderna Records last month. Ferd is filled with delicate piano compositions that make your mind roam freely for those 20 minutes.

The album's title refers to the journey through life that every human being has to attempt. With his piano compositions, the artist expresses the more hopeful and optimistic view on this journey (quite unlike what I would consider the average take in Scandinavian music), with his notes saying that "we've all suffered some hardship, but together we can lift each other up and move on to better days". And so the music here is far from being melancholic: the compositions are calm but also lively and quite high-paced. I appreciate that, but being a sad guy myself, I still like the most melancholic ones on the short album.

Ferd costs 5.5 EUR (8 CAD).

Check: Moltys

Country: Norway

Genre: piano neoclassical

Label: Moderna Records

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Natt - Natt (2023)

Four artists with long musical CVs (including René Misje from the band called Krakow, which is especially interesting for me, a person living in this city) from Bergen joined forces to create an interesting post-rock music album filled with great synthy flow.

This flow is what makes it quite special. The Norwegians decided to build the album out of three, long compositions and the synth sounds are what keeps them together and make it so ridiculously catchy for the listener. The compositions, although guitar-rich and heavy, feel like instrumental bangers the audience can swallow with one bite. Even though the last, 20-minutes-long track develops very slowly, the smooth post-rock it eventually produces is super satisfying. This flow plays perfectly with the rather slow pace of the guitar music, making the whole experience feel like loud honey poured into your ears.

Also, it's wort pointing out that the cover art is one of its kind: a beautiful painting that looks like a dark collage and it's something I dig for sure.

Natt costs 7 EUR.

 

Check: Skillevei

Country: Norway

Genre: synth post-rock

Label: Edged Circle Productions

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Liongeist - Liongeist (2023)

Although they play together for over a decade now, the Norwegian band of Liongeist hadn't had an LP released until this year they showed the self-titled album. 

The band is said to originate from the post-hardcore scene, but there's very little that reminds about it now. The album is filled with well-written post-rock music that is said to include everything from "brooding ambiance, twinkling guitars" to " heavy walls of sound and soaring melodies". And this is all true: I'd say there's too much of said twinkling guitars to my taste, but when the band decide to loose the brakes and gets into the super noisy mode (like in Third Molar), there's little to be said from the perspective of the sonically overwhelmed listener. And so the, let's say, debut of the experienced band turned out to be very... promising. 

Liongeist costs 6.5 EUR (69 NOK).

Check: Third Molar

Country: Norway

Genre: guitar post-rock

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Lights A.M. - Clouds (2022)

Erlend Eilertsen comes from Norway and it's something that certainly is well audible on his solo album Clouds. The member of a synthpop outift Essence of Mind, brings a lot of synths to create an airy and out-of-this-world soundscape neatly packed under the Lights A.M. moniker.

From the very beginning, his music strikes with the ability to create dense and thick synth atmosphere that seems to be very close to ambient soundscapes of the highest oneiric quality. But this time, they are used as backgrounds for slow and moody compositions based on Eilersten emotional vocals. Together, this combination brings one of the most ethereal experience of the year, that also involves tons of emotions. There's a lot of dream pop's atmosphere here obviously, but the tunes are livelier. It's something from Ruby Haunt, something from Fireflies, sometimes heavier, sometimes lighter. It is how bright nights of Scandinavia probably feel like.

Especially that the artist can easily ditch the vocals and still create something utterly touching, as it is with The Last Dance: its long finish is truly mesmerizing. Not to mention What I Am Feeling and Inscecure's utterly melancholic synthy vibes. And yes, I feel like the feeling of this autumn-like, subtle but omnipresent melancholia is what dominates this beautiful album.

Clouds costs 9 EUR.

Check: Inscecure

Country: Norway

Genre: synth-heavy dream pop

Label: Alfa Matrix

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Pjusk & Chihei Hatakeyama - Svaberg (2022)

Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik aka Pjusk comes from Norway and creates some perfectly moody soundscapes. Especially when he can enjoy the cooperation with the iconic Chihei Hatakeyama as it is on their album called Svaberg.

Their music feels both warm and very dark. No wonder that half of the track titles contain the word "mørke" which translates from Norwegian to "dark". The soundscapes are dense and overwhelming, but also very warm and welcoming. It is not the unnerving dark ambient industrial music; the focus is set on beauty and the ability to spark a self-reflective moment in the listeners. The good news for the fans is that Gjelsvik already announced that there's more material coming from the duo.

Svaberg costs 5 USD.

Chihei Hatakeyama - Maybe (2017)

Check: Tussmørke

Country: Norway, Japan

Genre: moody soundscape

Label: Fnugg Fonogram

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Kegaal - Pillars: Seeds of Ares (2020) EN

Already on his debut album NERATERRÆ surprised me with his love for collab with other great ambient artists. This time he became a member of a real ambient supergroup together with Gabriele Panci (New Risen Throne) and Ketil Søraker who also recently gave us a treat in the form of Taphephobia's new album. This enterprise couldn't go wrong.

As a result, Pillars: Seeds of Ares gives us a huge dose of dark ambient soundscape in the darkness of which you can easily get lost. As could have been guessed, the music here is made of a whole range of whispers, horror movies' mysterious crackling and, first of all, the pitch black soundscapes. And if for someone there's not enough of famous names here, the album hosts also the vocalist Treha Sektori and another artist I adore - Visions from Berlin. Wonderful combo.

Pillars: Seeds of Ares costs 5 EUR.

NERATERRÆ - The Substance of Perception (2019) EN

NERATERRÆ - Scenes from the Sublime (2020) EN

Taphephobia - Blue Hour (2020) EN

Check: Light Devourer

Country: Italy/Norway

Genre: dark ambient

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YODOK III - A Dreamer Ascends (2020) EN

One thing is certain, the members of the Norwegian YODOK III know their own value, on their Bandcamp we can read about "three fine exponents of modern, forward-thinking and experimental music" who while working together, transgressed their own borders. Nicely said, the most important thing though is that said collaboration results in good music, like the one on their last album called A Dreamer Ascends.

It has this unique atmosphere of concert improvisation and this is its great strength. So we have here some ambient introductions, jazzy fragments and eventually loud, post-rock finales. The interesting sound is probably achieved greatly by the instruments with amplified tuba and flugabone. The two tracks are very long but also extremely engaging. That said, it's a pity they end in this weird way which kind of prevents the full immersion. Still, a solid dose of music for those of us who long for live gig experience.

A Dreamer Ascends costs 7 EUR.

Sprawdź: Off The Black Moon

Kraj: Norwegia

Szufladka: improv post-rock

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Taphephobia - Blue Hour (2020) EN

Taphephobia is Ketil Søraker from Norway who creates "cinematic drone" under this moniker. For over 10 years, he managed to release several albums and the newest one, Blue Hour, at the end of August via Cyclic Law.

The album is "dedicated to the unique atmosphere of the northern landscape" and it's obviously audible from the very beginning in not so quiet drones and soundscapes. As the drone rule states: it's long, it's crushingly sad and beautiful. You feel the inspirations with the North and its barren, monumental landscapes. This legitimates the use of the cinematic: clearer and more breathtaking kind of ambient. And also one that weighs a lot, after all taphephobia is a fear of being buried alive. And then there are also unnerving, whispering vocals in Flashlights, thrilling darkness in Blå Timen, or the peaceful like the death itself finish in The Omen.

Blue Hour costs 8 EUR.

Check: Flashlights

Country: Norway

Genre: cinematic ambient
Label: Cyclic Law

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Sunset Wrecks - Trickles Into Gravity's Maw (2020) EN

Jarek Leśkiewicz is one of my favourite Polish deep-off artists. He appeared on my blog many times with many different projects and in different personal configurations. This time, he's here with the Norwegian musician Martinem Andersonem (Dopedrone) as a very post-rock persona on the album Trickles Into Gravity's Maw under the moniker Sunset Wrecks.

How interesting the project is can be seen from the instruments the two gentlemen use - from guitars and synthesizers to bag pipes and sitar. And of course a sold dose of programming and electronics. All of the things put into one pot and skillfully stirred. Hugely impressive are even the guitars alone - so massive and coarse, a bit like drills, a bit like springs of beautiful noise. And there's also quite a lot of electronic samples too (as in All of You). 

The more interesting parts are surely the synth-filled Survivor Syndrome, industrial pace od Detorioration Clock and the spiritual closure in Both Ends. A diverse album and absolutely making a huge impression.

Trickles Into Gravity's Maw costs 7 USD.

Check: Survivor Syndrome

Country: Poland/Norway

Genre: complex synth-post-rock

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Hovnod - Doedsformasjon (2019) EN

The debut album by the Norwegian Hovnod from the Dusktone label. From the appearances and descriptions, the band play black metal, but for me the more important is that on Doedsformasjon you can also spot some post-metal and even blackgaze inspirations.

It's all because that the black metal aggression of the vocal and compositions is somehow covered by the dark flow changing everything into one, smooth hit. The tracks such as I grevens tid, or Blodsbaand are surely a dangerous symphony decorated with devilish screaming vocals, but also have some of this soothing vibe. Perhaps it's a strange feeling but this is how I get it and how I like it.

Doedsformasjon costs 4.90 EUR.

Check: Bloodsband

Country: Norway

Genre: post-black-metal

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Searching The Architect - Dear Depression (2018) EN

This guy is quite well-known among ŁŚ's readers, Stig Erlkev comes back to the blog in a different project. Searching the Architect started as a band but already for a long time now functions as Erklev's solo project. At the end of the last year, The Norwegian not only re-mastered In Sickness, but also released a new album, Deer Depression.

The key word in his works is the melodic side of the artist's post-metal/post-hardcore compositions. Already the first songs, Penance and Deathwish, already make an impression by Erklev's music ideas. The fact how well the album works as a post-rock album can be checked on the instrumental version. And it's not only about the guitars but also about the electronic backgrounds and strings appearing from time to time. And it all reach the peaks in the (almost) final track It's Always My Fault.

We can go ahead and start the year with Erklev wishing us Happy Fucking Whatever.

Dear Depression costs whatever you pay.

Check: Deathwish 

Country: Norway

Genre: melodic post-hardcore

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A Veil Of Water - Late Night Loneliness (2018) EN

A Veil Of Water is Rune Trelvik creating his music in deep valleys of Norway. And the music is supposed to create "a multi-layered experience" that is both "emotive, melancholic and intimate". Nothing fits the objectives better than piano keys.

From the very beginning, Trelvik does his magic with delicate, sad compositions that invite the audience under the star-filled sky. He create them with the help of barely audible electronics in the backgrounds and subtle, sleepy melodies. No wonder, listening by night is indeed suggested by the album's title.

But in the meantime, the night session is interrupted by loud guitar noises in "If I'm Not Perfect By Tomorrow" announcing a short change of mood. Short, because the album soon gets back to what it does the best - magical lulling to sleep.

"Late Night Loneliness" costs 7 USD.

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SUBNOIR - A Long Way From Home (2018) EN

Norway is a true homeland for metal projects literally swarming all around the place, sometimes though, a project offers more atmosphere and post-rockish melancholy and thus post-metal is born. Just like it is with the Akershus-based band SUBNOIR's debut.

Post-metal-sludge music of the project led by Kenneth Mellum gives us what we all want - aggressive guitars, diabolic vocals and synth backgrounds. The tracks are mesmerizing with the dark energy they involve and really well-written music. One track that's especially noteworthy is "Owlking" with its ultra-desperate howling of a vocal going together with a choir of the undead introducing almost sacral atmosphere to the music.

A bit of peace is brought by, no surprise there, "Serenity" but it's only to make explosion in the following "Fading Sun" sound even more epic. And it all leads to a monstrous "Dissipation" that ends this brilliant album.

"A Long Way From Home" can be yours for 5 EUR (49 NOK).

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Drifting Anchors - Decadence (2017) EN

Angry and raging like three hundred knives project by Norwegian artist Stig Erklev. It's around for two years now but I encountered it just now. And I'm in awe. It's difficult to find a kind of music that fits better some particular states of mind.

I've been listening to "Mediocre at Best" for some weeks now because besides this great energy the Norwegian releases, his compositions have also this difficult to describe melodic and, what is even more important to me, nostalgic nature. For me, Erklev's anger is more this kind of anger that is expressed through tears, the one that is a result of depression, sadness as the last stand of sanity. But maybe it's just me.

The album is well balanced. Apart for "Mediocre..." the other tracks that deserve our attention are an ultra fast "Hook and Sinker", "Sunshine" and surprisingly delicate interlude in "Swallow".

"Decadence" is available for pay what you want.

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