Weekly Music Roundup: Myrkur, Nakhane, and Mercury Rev
This week, Danish folk metal, South African glam, and Swedish rap.
Myrkur’s New Single Is A Bewitching Blend of Metal and Folk
The Danish singer/songwriter Myrkur (real name Amalie Bruun) mixes Scandinavian folk songs, black metal, and her own classical training into a rich, surprising, and usually quite dark set of songs. Purists need not apply: folk fans may run for the hills when the pummeling drums and guitars come bursting in; metal fans have groused that her work is too “accessible” and doesn’t usually use the growling vocal style associated with the genre. But when you think of it, the texts for many of those old folk songs are pretty dark and weird, so even if folk and metal are sonically different, they’re often coming from a similar emotional/storytelling place. As if to prove the point, Myrkur has just released a single from her forthcoming EP Juniper. The A side is the title track, which sports a video that captures her blend of the ethereal and the earthy, the beautiful and the disturbing. The B side is a solo performance of her doing a 17th century Danish folk song called “Bonden og Kragen.” (She has also been known to play the nyckelharpa, the traditional keyed fiddle of Swedish folk music.) The song “Juniper” has an almost orchestral sweep and a melody that sounds like it could be an old folk ballad; but this being Myrkur, it also has its moments of heavy metal thunder.
South Africa’s Nakhane Releases First US Singles
Nakhane is a Xhosa singer and songwriter whose music is an infectious blend of art-rock, soul, and what has been described as “queer anti-gospel.” Raised in a religious community in South Africa, Nakhane is now making songs where identity and acceptance are major themes. In February he’ll release his first album in this country, a collection called You Will Not Die, and he’s just released his first two singles from it. One, “Clairvoyant,” is a frank celebration of same-sex love driven by a motoric 80s-style electronic rhythm. This one, “Interloper,” features a swaggering, galloping beat and has echoes of Queen, Bowie, and Prince. Nakhane has a silky tenor that easily floats into falsetto; it’s the kind of voice you can listen to in almost any setting. And in the album, you’ll get several: Nakhane does the early Bowie tune “Sweet Thing” and New Order’s “Age Of Consent” in addition to his original works, and includes guest vocals by ANOHNI, another great singer who’s wrestled with ideas of sexuality and identity, on one track.
The album You Will Not Die comes out on February 22.
Mercury Rev and Guests Resurrect a Lost Bobbie Gentry Album
In 1968, Bobbie Gentry topped the Beatles, and everyone else, with one of popular music’s great mysteries – the song “Ode to Billie Joe.” Gentry’s follow-up was a kind of southern gothic opera called The Delta Sweete. Yeah, I’ve never heard of it either. But the band Mercury Rev has “covered” the whole album, for a record they’re calling The Delta Sweete Revisited. It comes out in February, but they’ve just released one track, called “Sermon,” which features vocals by Margo Price. Price, the rapidly emerging country singer, is just part of an impressive lineup of women who handle the vocal chores on each track; others include Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams, Phoebe Bridgers, Marissa Nadler, and Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. “Sermon” is an unsettling mix of country vocals and brooding electronics, building to something resembling a psychedelic folk/jazz number from the early 70s. Gentry, ever the wordsmith, seems to have enjoyed weaving in biblical allusions with some phrases familiar from early Delta blues.
The full album, The Delta Sweete Revisited, comes out on February 8.
Sweden’s Yung Lean Releases Cinematic Video
The Swedish rapper Yung Lean is only 22 but he’s already found his way into the worlds of fashion design and punk rock in addition to his main gig. Now he’s starring in a striking, noir-ish video that shows a love for the great Swedish directors like Ingmar Bergman or Josef von Sternberg. Shot in black and white, the video is for “Friday the 13th,” a track from his new album Poison Ivy. Like much of Lean’s music, the production seems spare and straightforward but actually consists of subtly blended layers of keyboards, electronics, and programming. His laconic flow and often melancholy imagery fit the video’s tale of a wheelchair-bound rock star trapped not by a disability but by an inability to enjoy life.
XXXTentacion and Lil Pump Release “Arms Around You” Video
The late rapper XXXTentacion is now the 11th-highest paid dead celebrity of 2018 (according to Forbes and a breathless press release). I can’t help thinking of Flight Of The Conchord’s claim to being New Zealand’s fourth-most popular comedy folk duo, but in fact, XXXTentacion’s estate is making some serious coin – his songs have been streamed over 4 billion times in the past year. Anyway, he looks likely to have another posthumous success with his new single with Lil Pump, who recently teamed up with Kanye West on the meme-generating hit “I Love It.” This song, called “Arms Around You,” is pretty obvious about its aim: to make you love it, even if you are not into so-called SoundCloud rap. More pop song than anything else, it sports a lengthy trip to “Despacito”-land, with Maluma on board to bring in the Latin listeners. Swae Lee (half of the hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd) completes the lineup of musicians who know what it means to have a #1 hit. Number One-ness seems assured with “Arms Around You”; the problem is both the tune and its video seem to have been produced for just that purpose, and no other.
