There's 3 singles that have really stood out for me so far this year. Firstly 'About Beyond' by Swedish artist Agaton continues to astonish me, as does the very different and slightly frightening 'Scattered Red, Blue and Black' by A Knife Ballet. However I've probably listened to 'Closer' by The Hallway even more times, partly because it heads up our fabulous new Nordic Music Review 2024 Indie Playlist, but also because it simply brings a huge smile to my face, almost 5 minutes of unashamed, joyous upbeat melodic pop.
It's been a while since we featured The Hallway, the project that was created by Simen Schikulski from Team Me back in 2015, but also includes the likes of Andreas Engeseth, Andreas Westhagen and many others, with their EP 'Vestad' being their most substantial release in 2016. Thankfully that's about to change will a full length album just 8 days away; the brilliantly named 'Pitfalls of Modern Intimacy' which is due on February 16th.
On the final single before the album, The Hallway join together with fellow Norwegian artist OCEAN DAZE (check out her single 'Kill The Nolstagia' from last year) with an extravagant high energy track with big melodies at the heart of the song Yet the highlight for me is the quite gorgeous middle section featuring a cello with a delicious counter melody, with vocals courtesy of OCEAN DAZE and a lead up to an inevitable heavyweight musical climax.
The album is going to be great entertainment. For the million time on these pages I'll point out that it is really is simply all about the tunes, and The Hallway are amongst the best at writing them.