[media][/media]
Music that has a piercing, burrowing effect on us tends be emotionally striking. Songs born of candor, vulnurability and authenticity, makes a for a musical experience which can be both vivid and recognizable. It’s simple: we all strive for harmony and union during our lives, but time after time we end up in emotional disconnect.
And in 2015, no one orchestrates the search for connection better than Little Children from Stockholm, Sweden.
Little Children, a loose collective based around the minor tuned and emotionally charged songwriting of Linus Lutti, is a deeply personal expression catalyzed through the musical collaboration with multi-instrumentalists Andreas Söderström and Mathias Bergkvist. The group was born from the ashes of defunct duo Idiot kid (which Lutti shared with Swendie queen Min Stora Sorg) as a way for Lutti – a former therapist – to express all the sentimentality and recluse that permeates his own identity.
Little Children’s musical language obviously builds on love of music with intense emotional charge, but their expression is entirely their own. Their soundscapes are sometimes desolate and sparce, sometimes impalpable and intangible as air; other moments are hazy with an occasional burst of force of conviction. You want references? Try some Nick Drake and Bon Iver, pour one part Midlake, add the dazed desert dusk anthems of The War On Drugs, Dandy Warhols or Kurt Vile, and you’re still only half way there. Lutti’s personal songwriting, sense of melody and unparalleled voice has a rare cinematic quality that earned the band soundtrack contributions to international TV-series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Arrow
and The Originals.
Travelling through darkness, Little Children’s glorious breakout EP, builds on the majesty and melancholy of the band’s musical history, and tells of the leaving and of the longing that connects as much with Smalltown, Sweden as the tribulations of complex affection.
Travelling through darkness is a cathartic collection of songs which contrasts perfect musical harmony and minor key melodies with stories of doubt, defiance and imperfect relations. Crisp guitars are adorned with ethereal strings and a tapestry of percussion details, making the EP a masterwork of ethereal but jagged beauty. The title track is the perfect example: a duet with legendary Swedish songstress Titiyo which blends intertwined vocals with irresistible melodies to create a strange sensation of a near-life experience.
Linus Lutti has spared none of his personal outpourings in these songs: the lyrical fragments tell of love’s hope and failure, but are ultimately chapters of hope and willpower. And the force of the Lutti musical gift has not gone unnoticed. While Little Children bided their time, slowly letting the music gain momentum and the local rumor mill do its work, some of Europe’s more renowned song writers and producers have continuously approached Lutti for collaboration attempts.
His time is now. It seems Lutti’s in good company, and we all want what he is giving.
Street Date: June 2, 2015
Song #4