We are having another premiere this week and it might blow your mind, because it is something different. Linnea Hjertén is releasing her debut LP Nio systrar tomorrow and we are happy to premiere the album in full here on VoS. Imagine a form of Nordic Dead Can Dance. Vocals and layers are important, words are not.
Linnea is also known for her work in Shaam Larein, whose doomy Hard Rock has sparked the interest of Svart Records, who released their last full-length Sticka En Kniv I Världen in 2022. Linnea has now turned her focus towards her own debut which will be released by Nordvís tomorrow, January 12. The music on Nio systrar sounds much more like Heilung, Forndom (who also contributed to this record) and, as mentioned above, Dead Can Dance. Linnea’s vocals remind me so much of Lisa Gerrard that I even checked if the grand dame of ritualistic world music (with a twist) was featured on these tracks. Linnea matches her in timbre and intonation, shyness and also strength, urgency and reclusion.
Reclusion is also a pretty good word to describe the record in itself. It’s like a ritual which enables us (and also her herself) to go down into her innermost sanctuary, where one can see nothing but herself. To me, this voyage inward is one of the most powerful moments imaginable because it needs more strength to reveal yourself and your inner core than to push others away. In that sense, Nio systrar is a very powerful record - as it at points seems to lay bare everything that makes Ms Hjertén Linnea, everything she believes in, everything she desires. One of these ideas seems to be inner peace and that is something we are all striving towards, isn’t it? I figure, that voyage might become easier for many of us with the help of this record as a guiding light. Thank you Linnea and for everyone else - listen and calm down to gather strength, we can all need it.
Some of you will probably love to visit the online shop of Nordvis or get the pre-order in straight from her own Bandcamp page right now, where you can pre-order the record. And now enjoy Nio systrar!
