Scan Magazine

By Karl Batterby

This month, each Scandinavian territory puts forward its own Chanteuse, in a proud display of what each country is capable of producing at the moment!

Don’t stop

Norwegian songstress Annie is finally releasing her second album Don’t Stop. After constantly being delayed by her old record label and altered by Annie herself, the final version is ready and will be released in the UK on 19 October. It’s a dreamy opus of melody riddled electronica married to Annie’s remarkable vocals, which are interchangeable between sexy and vulnerable.

Finnish pop princess returns

Over in Finland, their reigning pop princess is back to launch the first single from her third album (following on from two number 1 albums!). Music Everywhere sees Anna Abreu adopting what’s become THE sound of Autumn 2009 around the world – dance music merged with r&b. It’s a fast paced, often frantic pop gem,  that pays audio homage to Lady Gaga. Incidentally, one of Anna’s earlier singles, Vinegar, has just been given a UK deal and will be Anna’s first release here later this year.

New tracks from Sweden and Iceland

Iceland’s Hera Bjork has released an interesting new track over there. My Heart sounds like schlager music for the clubland generation, and it works really well. Hera sang backing vocals earlier this year for Iceland’s successful Eurovision entry, which came second. She also participated as a solo artist in the 2009 Danish pre-selections, again finishing second!

Finally we head to Sweden, where they’ve just had an exceptionally good record occupy the number 1 position on their album chart. Moving On by Sarah Dawn Finer is a down tempo soul album with its roots firmly planted in pop! Full of sweet tunes all sung by the large voiced diva-in-the-making, Sarah.

All perfect soundtrack fodder for Winter!

www.scandipop.co.uk

Contact: scandipop@gmail.com