The Hits Keep on Coming
In this short post, I'll point you to some Swedish musicians whose songs are easy to buy or stream online & whose lyrics you can find on Musixmatch.
My prior post about lyrics versus word lists mentions ways to find Swedish musicians and their recordings, and introduced Musixmatch as a go-to site for lyrics. You'll easily find the artists in this post on Amazon, and probably all the other major online shops.
So here are a few artists, to get you going. UPDATE 02-Jul-2017: I see I missed an opportunity to make this easier, so I'm including links to the Swedish lyrics, over at Musixmatch. Have your favorite online dictionary at hand, and have a go. Peek at the English lyrics only if you have to.
Veronica Maggio (http://veronicamaggio.se/)
Veronica has five full-length albums to date. Her music is amazing and there's plenty to keep you busy and enthralled. I still haven't memorized all of the songs. Save for a few early recordings and some YouTube content, her songs are in Swedish.
Her latest album and its lead track are entitled "Den första är alltid gratis" (lyrics). It's a great album to start out with. The lyrics are often truly poetic. The songs vary in style and stay fresh through many plays. To start easy and work your way in, go with Dom sa!, Play och sen repeat, Förlorad för alltid, & Vi mot världen. Verkligheten, Svart sommar and Den första är alltid gratis are my top picks. I started with those songs because they are so brilliant, but the lyrics are more complex.
Veronica is touring this summer in Sweden and Norway. I likely won't have the good fortune to go but I haven't given up yet. Link me to your pictures (or send merch! :) ) if you get to go. If you need to get fired up, catch her live performance from Stockholms Stadion.
Laleh (http://laleh.se)
In 2016, Laleh recorded what I consider the "one-two punch of Swedish fight songs": "Bara få va mig själv" and "Aldrig bli som förr." (lyrics and lyrics) If your bad day didn't involve cops or EMTs then these two tunes are the sure antidote (and maybe even then). The songs are from the album, Kristaller, incidentally recorded in Los Angeles. About half of her songs are in Swedish.
Laleh also is touring this summer in Sweden, and a 2014 live show from Skansen is online.
Slowgold (http://slowgold.se)
Slowgold is Amanda Werne's band. They have a number of great videos on YouTube. Do not miss "Det osynliga" (lyrics), the darkly soaring "Ljuset kommer att stå på", "Öppna sår" or "I dina ögon."
Except for "I dina ögon" (which is a better-than-original cover of an 80s tune, which Amanda performed on a Swedish TV show), Amazon has SG's songs. I bought three of them, even though they're available on Amazon Unlimited Music, so that I could have them on any of my devices.
Sad thing is that Slowgold's lyrics aren't on Musixmatch, except for Det osynliga, which I added, and one other short song. It will take me a few hours each song, with headphones and a lot of rewinding, to get another song translated. So I'm hoping SG will upload lyrics soon.
Slowgold also is on the road this summer in Sweden. My hope is to get them to perform live here in Seattle, with a little help from The Swedish Club, The Nordic Heritage Museum, and The Triple Door (a club which has hosted the Swedish group Väsen, for instance.) Fingers crossed, prayers uttered.