Since Iris, the latest Norwegian pop-export, first hit the pages of Breaking More Waves, she has released her debut EP A Sensitive Being. It’s a rather fetching low-key collection of anti-bangers for those who like pop music that is a little more plaintive and gentle in tone (although the track Hanging Around You / Crackers displays some near-Sigrid like qualities of elevated synthy euphoria, albeit in a rather understated manner). Now there’s a video for the closing track from the EP, the seemingly harshly titled Romance is Dead. “Who can say romance is dead when I see strangers running into each others arms?” she sings and in these times of what seems to be constant anger on line, it’s nice to hear some words like this with a piece of music that is so beautifully soothing. Of the video Iris says “I used an old digital camera because I like how the world looks through it. There’s a bit of perfection in it looking so imperfect.” Iris comes to the UK in May for Brighton’s Great Escape festival. Iris - Romance is Dead (Video)
The quality pop from Norway just keeps on coming. Not content with giving us the likes of Sigrid, Aurora, Dagny, Anna of the North, Amanda Tenfjord and Halie, here’s the latest new Nordic queen on the block. Her name is Iris and like all good pop stars she’s mononymous and doesn’t have a surname. Well she does, but nobody cares about that. When we talk of Adele nobody calls her Adele Adkins do they? I’m beginning to wonder if there’s some sort of pop star birthing machine in Bergen, Norway, because like Sigrid and like Halie, Iris comes from there. However, as Ian Brown of the Stone Roses once famously said: “It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re at,” and with her debut single From Inside A Car Iris immediately proves she’s at a very good place musically; in this case Paris. For From Inside A Car is a gorgeously low-key piece of porcelain pop with a really pretty melody and breathy hooky chorus that was written after Iris had spent a month alone in the romantic French city. Iris recorded the track with producer Askjell Solstrand who has worked with the likes of Sigrid and Aurora so there’s some good pedigree here. Iris herself also comes with a good history, having worked on a bunch of other projects in Norway. However, with dates at By:Larm festival in Oslo and Brighton’s Great Escape already pencilled in for 2019, you can expect to hear a lot more from her as a solo artist as the year develops. A debut EP is scheduled for Spring.
