Scan Magazine
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Culture
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Columns
Best new Scandi music in February One of Norway’s biggest music exports, Astrid S, is back to kickstart a whole new album era. New single Two Hands is super-cute and endlessly charming, thanks to a “oh-you-know-you-love-me-really” lyric paired with a funked-up and feel-good production. “I know I’m a handful… That’s why you’ve got two hands”: Quite the adorable refrain, really. And one that’s going to lend itself very well to repeat listens. Norwegian newcomer Alessandra is out with a new pop offering, Narcissist. And quite impressively – particularly for a song that clocks in at just two and a half minutes – it manages to switch up its sound at least four times throughout its short duration. Growing gradually from a broken-hearted torch song into a trance-fuelled anthem of clarity and emancipation, there’s a hell of a lot to be enjoyed here.
By Karl Batterbee
One new duo that caught my attention and had it in a chokehold last autumn, when they debuted with Ønsker Du Var Straight, is the Swedish and Danish pair ØÖRESUND. Now the pair are back with single number two. On Drömmer Jag, they’ve upped the tempo considerably, but stayed with the electropop sound that they played with so well on its predecessor. This one’s got a synth riff so catchy, you’ll be assuming it’s actually taken from the ’80s era it’s been so influenced by. Norwegian pop icon Dagny guests on Something Beautiful by the Swedish duo JUNG. The new release is a carefree guitar-pop bop with an ’80s edge, all about finding beauty in the freedom that comes with taking it easy, not caring about the opinions of others, and leaving your fate in the hands of, well, fate. An enticing doctrine to start the new year with, I must say!
www.scandipop.co.uk
Monthly Illustration
By Gabi Froden
Christmas is well behind us, but I am finding it hard to let go UK Christmas: Partridges in pear trees, dry turkey and gifts on Christmas Day. I am confused about all these things. My children, however, seem perfectly content with their Scottish Christmas. They prefer a mince pie to a meatball, a Yorkshire pudding to gravlax and a chocolate log to a green cabbage quiche. What on earth is wrong with them? And how can I have failed them so miserably? I feel deep shame while I pack away the tacky thick tinsel and multi coloured lights- items banned in any Swedish home! I am passing down traditions I don’t even understand. I want my children to sing Lucia songs and hand out saffron buns while dressed in long white robes, I want them to play in the snow all winter break and eagerly reach for the herring on the Christmas table. Trying to pass on traditions is really difficult, especially when traditions have to do 70
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Issue 163
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February 2024
the homeland somewhere near family and forests where fish is pickled and meatballs come in abundance. I am yet to settle on one answer, but I do feel that somewhere underneath the tacky coloured lights, bland Christmas meals and sleet that somehow manages to get in under your raincoat, there is something I am yet to find a Swedish word for. Community.
with things like snow or fish. For some reason, making snow is not in my power and fish is just one of those things kids turn their noses up at. So, what keeps us here in this miserable rain chewing dry turkey? Why stay, you might ask, if you love a cold, snowy winter? Why not return to
Gabi Froden is a Swedish illustrator and writer, living in Glasgow with her husband and two children. Her children’s and YA books are published in Sweden by Bonnier Carlsen and Natur&Kultur. www.gabifroden.com