Race

Evil Man

Sundahl’s songs are soft, sing-song forays into the apologetics of everyday life; often menacing and rhythmic, sometimes light as the down on a child’s neck. He makes indie folk and psychedelic pop, sprinkled with the tired yarns of a singer-songwriter who only ever remembers half of the story and invents the rest out of necessity. It was that or furthering a career in the service industry.

Sten Sundahl started out as a songwriter detailing the raucous life he led as a drink slinger in Ghent, Belgium’s nightlife. A lotta ups during the weekend, mainly downs during the week: an untenable path from which he nevertheless didn’t err, despite his cardiologist’s admonishments. Seen through this prism, his current attempt to break into the music industry is more a yearning for normalcy than a necessary step in his creative transcendence. 

Forget endless raves, jaw-clenching champagne slurpers and endless talk of the next big plan to the sound of click-clacking credit cards. Enter raw carrot sticks with tinned mackerel on toast, hypertension medication at bedtime and being a supportive father. Good, clean livin’ is much more tantalizing to cannibalize in search of a great song.

That isn’t to say that Sundahl’s sound is somehow pedestrian or easy to pinpoint. He greatly admires and tries to emulate the tenderness and soft-spoken resolution of Kate Stables’ This Is The Kit. In the past, his lyrical economy has been compared to a minimalist Nick Drake. His music contrasts the misanthropic ramblings of an early Eels with the psychedelic silliness of a Devendra Banhart or a Mac Demarco. All this he brings together with a self-deprecation reminiscent of Timber Timbre or, when Sundahl’s feeling particularly full of himself, Thom Yorke’s firebrand sermons. 

Flanked by his stalwart companions Serge Hertoge (Liz Aku / Vincent Starwaver) on guitar and Linard Van den Bossche (LINARD / The Father, The Son And The Holy Simon) on keys, Sundahl has spent the last two years working on a debut album. The first six songs are available. More tracks soon to come.