BJØRN TOMREN
With a talent as organic as Bjørn’s, a return to music was always inevitable – albeit via another typically surprising route. In 2007, he formed a successful yodelling duo who soon found themselves opening to A-Ha and touring the States. It was in the US that a producer took a liking to his voice, urged him to write some songs, and his debut album was born. That’s also when Steve Earle took a shine to his abilities at a songwriting camp.
Earle would be one of many to fall in deep for Bjørn’s idiosyncratic approach to alt-country music – blending more traditional sounds of the past with tales of a fantasy future to illuminate what’s going wrong in the present. His sonic palette blends country with the raw-nerved humanity of The National, the playful but profound soul of John Grant, the ambient darkness of David Sylvian and a few cinematic flourishes around the edges. There’s a lot to get lost in.