If you love singer-songwriters in the tradition of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Elliot Smith, Shawn Colvin, Jeff Buckley, etc., you will love what’s happening in Scandinavia these days, especially in Sweden. Here you will find many bright, shimmering musical lights—a kind of “aurora musicalis,” to coin a phrase. (I’ve always wanted to coin a phrase.) So much talent, in fact, a follow-up column may be in order at some point. For now, let’s focus on three musicians who, already well known in Europe, are poised to make some noise here in the United States.

Ane Brun (www.anebrun.com, www.myspace.com/anebrun), originally from Norway, has been a part of the Swedish music scene since 2000. Her songs are deeply personal and evocative portrayals of life and love. “To Let Myself Go” is a beautifully simple, existential statement of Brun’s approach to life. Her finger-picking guitar style (equal parts strength and delicacy) and her voice (mysterious as moonlight on snow) perfectly express her lyrics and invite the listener to let go into the music. In “My Lover Will Go,” Brun gives us a blues based ballad that moves beyond the standard form, shifting into unexpected chord changes and adding rich orchestral textures while maintaining the standard heartache, pain and sorrow. On the lighter side, “Song No. 6” is a sweet and silly love song about writing a sweet and silly love song. This number comes from an album of duets that Brun recorded with various artists, in this case the brilliant American songwriter Ron Sexsmith.

Another of Brun’s singing partners is Tobias Froberg, also of Sweden (www.tobiasfroberg.com, www.myspace.com/tobiasfroberg). Froberg seems a gentle soul with a sound that’s firmly rooted in the style of 1960s folk music, yet manages to sound current. In “So I,” a plaintive and longing love song, and “God’s Highway,” a poetic statement of life’s journey, Froberg breathes new life into the guitar style and harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel. “When the Night Turns Cold” is an upbeat, bongo driven, synth-laced harmonic celebration that sounds as if Donovan and Sly Stone were looking over either shoulder while Froberg penned this wonder. 

OK, so maybe a guy who has been written up in Spin magazine, the Chicago Tribune and Salon.com, appeared on Carson Daly and had a song featured on the OC doesn’t exactly qualify as under the radar anymore. However, I’m guessing that many of our readers have yet to hear the music of Jose Gonzalez (www.jose-gonzalez.com). Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, Gonzales is not the first to be compared to Nick Drake, but is one of the few who actually deserves the comparison. Introspective and thoughtful lyrics, accompanied by intricate classical guitar and a somber, expressive voice are only part of what attracts the listener to Gonzalez’s music. His sound is truly a case of the whole equaling more than the sum of the parts. It’s the overall mood and atmosphere of songs like “Crosses” and “Deadweight on Velveteen” that really captivate. Then there’s the Latin influence (from his Argentine-born father, perhaps). Songs like “Remain” and “Lovestain” (love the subtle handclaps!) create a weight and color very different than Drake’s or other artists from that era, such as Tim Buckley or John Martyn, whom Gonzalez obviously admires.