Modern psychedelia and alt-pop seem to go hand-in-hand as they both combine elements of rock, pop, and hip-hop to make something that is unique, and in many ways, undefinable. Sometimes this genre feels like a catch-all of good music that you can't quite fit into a single category. It is in this way, Swedish artist Love Truls is alt-pop to the core. In his newest release "Trembling Hands", Truls creates something that is both eerily nostalgic and originally imagined.
Truls Söderman Carlberg began writing music at age four and composing his forthcoming debut EP at just 16. Now 18, Carlberg has been making waves across several scenes with his eclectic brand of poppy psychedelic bops. Calling to mind the stylings of Jadu Heart, Truls draws influence from a bevy of sources, from Roy Ayers to King Krule and beyond. "Trembling Hands" is a collaboration with childhood friend Siri Gunrup Järvinen, the daughter of two musicians, who had previously never made music until the urging of Truls to collaborate. The charming duet is both smile-inducing and perhaps unintentionally melancholic. Carlberg describes it as being about "new love and new intimacy" and this is especially true of the masked visual accompaniment. Self-directed, the simple yet touching visual follows the two masked artists through a normal daily routine that is dripped in a dreary yet pensive teenage angst.
Truls' debut EP Kantande Wanai (Japanese for 'it isn't easy') is scheduled to release in June via This is Scandinavia, and there is a palpable anticipation from the artist himself. Music is Truls' true love as he describes, "(music is) the only thing I want to do and the only thing I am good at" and he adds jokingly "Besides looking goofy, of course."
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Photo courtesy of Linus Bertholdsson
