Being over on this side of Europe at Nordic Music Review does mean that we miss out on really understanding what’s going on in the vibrant local live music scene in the cities and towns of Norway and other places. So we spend an enjoyable hour every now and then, looking at gig listings, seeing who’s playing, and trying to pick out some interesting new music. So when we spotted the ‘Emergenza Festival 2015 Semi Finale’ was going on at John Dee in Oslo in April, we thought we’d have a listen to some of the bands ourselves.
So that’s how we came across ‘New Canvas’. They’ve been active for a while, but their recently debut EP and video have only just been released. They are a ‘Pop Rock’ band, and their music is big, bold and rich, but with soulful melancholy elements. Their debut Single / Video ‘I dream For Two’ from their EP ‘The Rise’ is a great example, it has a powerful vocal and guitar opening, before switching to softer ‘Thirteen Senses’ style Piano Accompaniment, and it was that contrast which immediately appealed to me when I first heard it. There’s not much disputing that ‘I dream For You’ is a fine song within its genre, and it's definitely radio playlist friendly.
The video to the song has a lovely (and fairly typical New Band) story behind it, it was done on a shoestring budget, and it involved everyone they know joining in to help track down things like Aircraft scrap parts and support the filming. The result was pretty impressive, I still love the adapted piano.
Future plans for ‘New Canvas’ involve live work, and they then hope to record their debut album in full later in the year. In the meantime you can track down ‘The Rise’ on Spotify, or buy the EP and keep in touch with what they’re up to on Facebook.
www.newcanvasmusic.com www.youtube.com/user/newcanvasmusic www.soundcloud.com/newcanvas www.facebook.com/newcanvas