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From teenage dirtbag to avenging angel, Merely dazzles in new video

29 April 2015, 10:00 | Written by Andrew Hannah

With the combination of a video from Ty Olson, the man responsible for the stunning and vivid imagery in clips from Postiljonen and JJ, and a release on legendary Swedish label Sincerely Yours, you can be certain that the new track from one time “teenage dirtbag” and Team Rockit member Merely will be one to live long in the memory.

Kristina Florell (she who is Merely) describes “Scandinavia”, the opening track on last year’s Nirvana album, as a song “about me trying to break free from other peoples’ expectations of who I am, ideas about me being a certain way because of my gender, where I grew up and how I behave.” As teardrop piano gives way to a looped beat and fizzing percussion, Merely sings “they say I am okey-dokey / I don’t mind if they are wrong” and it’s clear this is not a love song for her home nations. Florell’s voice leaps from an almost conversational tone in the verses to skyscraping falsetto in the chorus, providing a juxtaposition of warmth and then jagged iciness as the music switches from cool electro to all-out blissful Balearics.

Olson’s accompanying video is spectacular, with Merely acting as an avenging angel, first dressed in all-white before capturing some of the song’s darkness by appearing in militaristic black, against a stunning Nordic landscape. This is a song about being moulded by what’s around you, and the battle to become your own person in the face of tradition and expectation: Merely’s forthright tract against misconceptions should be seen as a battle-cry and an aspiration.

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