My latest musical interest is a Swedish (!) country group called Calaisa (home page, wikipedia). It’s a country group from Malmö that apparently hit it big in Nashville and got a record contract with a large company. They have their first CD out now, called “Calaisa”.

I’m absolutely and positively surprised by this group. It’s real modern country, with four girls singing, traditional country instruments and yet they seem to at times mix in a little bit of Nordic folk instruments with adds an unusual touch to the music.

The CD starts off with a catchy tune called “Hey Girl”, goes right on to a very good song called “You are Mine”, and later comes up with a song called “Never Looking Back” with a wonderful refrain that gets stuck in your head in seconds. “Ready for the Storm” is a soft, melodic and sensitive piece, but it doesn’t linger long there but moves right into the happy “Sunday Paper”. It finishes with a more traditional folk music song called… “Röda Walters Special”, which is a bit odd and I think I’d like it more if it didn’t sound so much like a special-order pizza.

Anyway. Get the CD if you like country. It’s awesome.