There’s usually very little overlap between my two music blogs Songs:Illinois and Swedesplease. But sometimes one of the Swedish groups I write about so embodies the Songs:Illinois coda that I have to cut and paste and present it here as well. That’s the case with the all woman group Vikta Fagler (Folded Bird).
Vikta Fagler literally means “folded bird” in English. Loosely I think it translates into the term origami. That’s important because these seven women use an origami like technique to compose the lyrics to their songs:
The text to the song is written in the same way as when children write stories together. We sit in a ring and write a few phrases each on a piece of paper, we fold back what we have written so there is just one or two words for the next person to see as we pass the paper along and they continue the story. The lyric is then created together by all members of the band, sometimes it becomes a bit strange and sometimes just really beautiful words shaped together to even more beautiful phrases.
Musically the band combines elements of the Swedish folk tradition with some classical and even some experimental noise (like when the cymbals come crashing in towards the end of “Walkalong”). Together they play 25 different instruments including tuba, cello and typewriter. On “Walkalong” the result is a combination of magical snippets of lyrics combined with music you’d expect to hear from a gypsy caravan.
“Kick” video