
Dunderbyrån – Mandalorian (Keep Your Soul)
Genre: Alternative Rock
Similar artists: War On Drugs, Sharon Van Etten, Miynt, Future Islands
I never owned a car when I was growing up. Just like The Replacements, between me and my friends, there wasn’t one single college degree or a driver’s license to speak of. It was only later, riding around in other people’s vehicles that I understood why some artists bothered making music, seemingly, exclusively to be played inside moving cars.
There’s something about driving, especially aimlessly, that feels a lot like freedom. Naturally, a feeling as powerful as this can only have certain kinds of music soundtrack it. Techno-rave just won’t do, for example.
Bands like War on Drugs have cornered the market on large, 80s sounding, car music. They have their fans and their followers, of course. Out of these, few are able to create a sound that is as convincing, or as colourful as Dunderbyrån on their tune Mandalorian (Keep Your Soul). It’s the kind of tune that makes you convinced that you can ride forever.
Drac Hammond – Maybes
Genre: Shoegaze, Lo-fi Rock, Indie Rock
Similar artists: Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones
Haircuts go in and out of fashion. So do clothes and music styles. However, the very heart of those things, if it is large enough and if it’s meant something to enough people can’t disappear. Expect to hear your favourite artists of old in the art that your future favourite artists are about to create.
The 60s singer-songwriters of real importance made records that made them famous. They earned money, travelled the world, and got to meet interesting people. Then copycat artists came along, then other trends, and then, worse of all, nostalgia.
However, the heart and soul of those 60s songs are alive and well. Drac Hammond doesn’t only understand this. He has made this kind of art part of his way of life. Maybes is an effervescent slice of folksy beat-rock that your grandparents might have enjoyed, but that doesn’t feel out of place in the world of indie-pop in 2021.