Nordic Nights invites listeners into the serene soundscape of northern Europe, bringing together artists from across Scandinavia who are redefining contemporary folk music. From compelling Icelandic singer-songwriters Ylja and Linus Orri, to the stunning vocalists Sigrid Moldestad from Norway and Helene Blum from Denmark, to the sophisticated arrangements of instrumental wizards Väsen and Dreamers’ Circus, Nordic Nights offers a vivid panorama of the thriving Nordic folk scene.

Joik – Gods, Spirits, and Shamans. A journey through mysterious mythological worlds, represented by works from Bo Holten, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi and Jan Sandström. In “Regn og Rusk og Rosenbusk” for solo voices and mixed choir, Bo Holten evokes the transience of earthly existence. Jan Sandström’s work is more tempestuous: his fall-wind joik references the ancient singing traditions of the Sami people; Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s “Pseudo-Yoik,” on the other hand, takes an ironic look at these traditions. Mäntyjärvi also delves into the world of Finnish Kalevala poetry, in which the image of a young girl has long been considered the embodiment of the Finnish nation.

Norwegian trio Building Instrument - Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Åsmund Weltzien, Øyvind Hegg-Lunde - returns with new sounds full of dreamy pop hooks, sparkling synth textures and beguiling lyrics about the moon, spirit, animals and the experience of simply being alive. As the pop sensibility is filtered through an aesthetic of playful experiment, the gorgeous, brightly hued tunes and seductively shiny textures share house room with avant-garde sound-art. If you want to hear delicious ear candy intersected by spooky instrumental vignettes or a brief snippet of a car engine stalling, here’s where to find it. The result is a compulsively listenable album whose deceptively poppy surface unpeels to reveal a whole underworld of intensely-worked immersive improvisation.

Norwegian singer Rebekka Bakken is one of Europe's most charismatic voices. With her unique blend of jazz, folk, pop, and Nordic melancholy, she has created a distinctive place in the international music scene. Since the early 2000s, she has released a string of acclaimed albums, including "The Art of How to Fall", her celebrated Tom Waits tribute "Little Drop of Poison", and most recently "Always on My Mind". Her powerful yet fragile voice and captivating stage presence have earned her a devoted following across Europe and beyond.

A smorgasbord album, the cast list includes Bjork, Siouxsie Sioux, Brendan Perry, and long-term sidekick Barbera Googan. As expected, the mood is cold, often somber in tone. Only on "The Long Voyage," a springy ditty fronted by Suzanne Vega and John Cale, does the album ascend from the depths. Some of the gloom works, like in "Havet Stomar," a brilliant slow burner with B.J. Cole's pedal steel guitar and ECM artist Lene Willemark's chilling howls. "Annukka Suaren Neito" presents what must be the closest to an Eskimo rap you can get. Mark Isham provides freestyle trumpet that almost sounds like seagulls swooping the skies. The Jane Siberry-fronted "She Is Like the Swallow" is a beauty, as soft as it is light. Hector Zazou's electronics are in fine check too. The canvas expands to new textures, such as metallic percussion in "Adventures in the Scandinavian Skin Trade".

Rigmor Gustavsson is without a doubt one of Sweden’s most successful jazz singers of all time. She studied in New York in the 90s where she formed her own band and has been touring worldwide since then. After many years with the German label ACT, featuring numerous best-selling albums and collaborations with notable artists like Nils Landgren, Lars Danielsson, various orchestras, and string quartets, she is now releasing her first album ever in her native tongue, Swedish. This album features Rigmor’s interpretation of some of her favorite Swedish songs in classy jazzy arrangements.

Being in a room with Sinikka Langeland is like being charmed into a northern forest under a night sky,” wrote Fiona Talkington in Songlines. “Her presence and her voice are magical, but when she plays her kantele you can almost feel nature itself quivering with joy.”

Anyone who has paid attention to Icelandic music this century knows how Ólöf Arnalds can mesmerise a room with nothing but a small guitar and her distinctive soprano voice. Across five albums in nearly twenty years, her gently plucked guitar, charango, violin and koto have provided the bedrock for vivid narrations straddling the mundane and mythological, sketching out rich emotional territories often concerned with love–equal parts familial, platonic and romantic. The music evokes Joanna Newsom, Nico’s early solo albums and Vashti Bunyan but the deceptively simple arrangements and tightly braided melodies are, ultimately and unmistakably, very much her own.

Kveikur (pronounced [ˈkveikʏr], fuse or candlewick) is the seventh studio album from Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. It was released 12 June 2013 in Japan, on 17 June internationally, and on 18 June in the United States through XL Recordings. It is the first album to be fully released through XL after the band departed EMI and Parlophone during the label's acquisition by Universal Music Group in 2012. It is the first album since their debut, Von, not to feature Kjartan Sveinsson, following his departure in 2012, and the last to feature drummer Orri Páll Dýrason before his departure in 2018. The cover is a photo by the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. Kveikur sees a new direction taken by Sigur Rós, both musically and thematically. The band has described the album's sound as "more aggressive" than any of their previous works. All tracks are sung in Icelandic, although Yfirborð contains some reversed words at the start, which can be considered Hopelandic.

From Norwegian folk singer and harpist Sinikka Langeland comes a seductively subtle contemporary jazz album. The lyrics are all Norwegian or Swedish (the sleeve notes have translations), and celebrate the poetry of Edith Södergran and Olav Håkonson Hauge – the first a shortlived pioneer of modern Swedish poetry, the second the Norwegian "lumberjack poet" who came to the art in his 40s. Langeland's band brings together trumpet-player Arve Henriksen and saxophonist/composer Trygve Seim, and it's a magical combination. Despite a predominant feeling of tranquillity, the singer sometimes adds an almost Nina Simone-like bite, for which Seim's smoky sound, Henriksen's ghostly multiphonics and Anders Jormin's bass are ideal foils. The mood is often broken by grooves that suggest some strange fjord-village cabaret music, or episodes that are like Nordic Miles Davis. It's a real one-off.

After two albums devoted to Ireland and Scotland, Alix Boivert and The Curious Bards cross the North Sea to Sweden and Norway. Rejecting the artificial distinction between ‘art’ and ‘folk’ music, they give us a chance to hear the colourful and varied world of eighteenth-century Scandinavian songs and dances.

Norwegian folk musician Sinikka Langeland, singer and player of the kantele (the Finnish table harp) is a distinctly non-traditional traditionalist, redefining "folk" in successive projects. 'Maria's Song' finds her in the company of two distinguished classical musicians - organist Kare Nordstoga and "giant of the Nordic viola" Lars Anders Tomter - and on a mission to restore Marian texts to sacred music, weaving folk melodies in between the timeless strains of J S Bach. Langeland made a lot of friends with her sparkling ECM debut Starflowers: "There are jewels everywhere on this arresting example of ego-free music-making. One of the albums of this or any other year" raved the Irish Times. Where Starflowers brought Langeland into the orbit of jazz improvisers, Maria's Song is a meeting and cross referencing of folk and 'classical' energies, and also a righting of historical 'injustice': Religious folk songs are amongst the most distinctive elements of the Norwegian folk tradition, yet the Virgin Mary rarely appears in them.

While the world came to a stop during the pandemic, the three-piece retreated in the studio to write and record upcoming album ‘Drif’. In the band’s fashion, they sought for forgotten songs, made ruffling leaves into instruments and wrote lyrics spreading messages of love for each other and respect for nature. ‘Drif’ will be HEILUNG’s most immersive and successful work to date. In their own words: “Drif means “gathering”. A throng of people, a horde, a crowd, a pack. In symbiosis with the album title, Drif consists of a flock, a collection, a gathering, a collage of songs, that much like little flames were seeking towards each other, to join, to bond, to create, and be greater together. This album has very clearly dictated its own path. Our attempts to tame it was repeatedly fruitless and once we came to this realization, the creative flow surged forward with immense force. So much so that sometimes it felt like the songs wrote themselves. All the songs on Drif have their own stories. They have each their place and sense of belonging, with inspiration not only from Northern Europe, but from the ancient great civilisations.”