Heyerdahl - Shadows

Nordic pop-music has always had a certain distinction. At its best you will find it presented with a unique ambivalence; strikingly cold, dark and melancholic to the point where you don’t realise the warmth and addictiveness of the melodies until you find yourself whistling them. To Scandinavians there seems to be beauty in what outsiders might view as cold and alienating.

In the case of Heyerdahl, a quartet from Oslo, this distinction was evident from the release of the band’s first single ‘Mirage’. Poule D’Or called it “dramatic pop mixed with Norwegian melancholy”, and NO Fear OF POP praised Heyerdahl’s “irresistible knack for lush melodies and grandiose statements so significant for groups from the Nordic countries”. Heyerdahl themselves have, on more than one occasion, made reference to Swedish producer Thomas Alfredson’s grim portrayal of the Scandinavian suburban life in ‘Let the Right One In’, claiming that there is warmth there that’s lost to the rest of the world. Knowingly or not, Under the Radar described this ambivalence perfectly when calling Heyerdahl’s live performance “haunting”, and in the same sentence concluded that they’d “fallen in love” with the band.

The haunting sound stems from the unusual surroundings in which Heyerdahl recorded their debut album; in a lighthouse in one of the most barren areas of the Norwegian coastline. With a musical CV split between the four members that include releases on the experimental electronic music label Raster Noton, through working with Ken Stringfellow, to collaborations with members of Team Me and The Wombats, the band wanted to do it differently this time. The lighthouse, overlooking the vast Norwegian Sea in the midst of the winter storm of 2010, with the backdrop of winds reaching hurricane status, proved to be just about right. Away from family and the familiar, the quartet began contemplating everything from the reasons for making music to their native country’s drastic change from a primitive fishing and mining community to today’s welfare state in such a short period of time. With cold winds seeping in through the old lighthouse’s walls and windows - they made no effort to hide the lighthouse’s shortcomings as a recording room. Instead microphones where put all over the lighthouse. Ideas for lyrics came from good old traditional story telling. Album opener ‘Enkebukten’ (Widow’s Bay) tells the true story of a small fishing community who lost all their men to the sea during a winter storm. Only later did the band discover that the Lighthouse was in fact often used as shelter for mourning widows - one time with as many as seven widows with children staying there at the same time.

‘Mirage’, the first track to surface, immediately garnered the band attention. The prestigious Øya Festival booked the band before they had even played a single show. With the next track, Mirage’s introverted brother ‘Archipelago’, the band gained regular airplay on national radio. With ØEN due for release on 28th January 2013, Heyerdahl, who have already been invited to play SXSW 2013, look forward to another promising year.