Swedish NONONO’s urban indie pop sounds are set to take the world by storm, says YLC’s Nina Uddin, kicking off a new YLC series on up-and-coming Swedish music.
It all started in 2012, when producers Astma (Tobias Jimson) and Rocwell (Michel Flygare) were on the lookout for a vocalist to front their latest project, after ten years of working with numerous hip hop acts (along with Sweden’s newest superstars, Icona Pop). This is when they hooked up with singer/songwriter Stina Wäppling and the rest is, as they say, history.
The pairing of Astma and Rocwell with their vocalist came through the publishing company Wäppling was signed to as a songwriter. They felt a strong chemistry with her and decided they wanted to be more involved in the whole package, rather than just being the producers behind a solo artist. The result was the threesome forming a group under the name NONONO in the spring of 2012, after which they began their remarkable ascent.
The group’s urban indie-pop sounds, along with Stina’s hauntingly beautiful vocals, attracted the attention of many international music blogs very early on with their debut single Like the Wind.
The second single Pumpin Blood has been gaining momentum ever since its release and has earned them more acclaim from music sites around the world, as well as plenty of airplay home in Sweden. Pumpin Blood was the most played song of 2013 on P3, the main popular music outlet at Sveriges Radio (SR). NONONO also featured at Sweden’s legendary Hultsfred Festival and has since gone from strength to strength, busily cracking the States by earning recent stints on, among others, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Perez Hilton’s web-TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J4F76LqMPc
NONONO’s debut album is just being given its finishing touches, and the band is readying itself to play a series of dates across Europe, after which they’ll be touring America with the Arctic Monkeys and Phoenix. Come March they’re heading to SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin, Texas, one of the most important showcases for fresh musical talent in the world.
In case you are wondering about the name of the group, it comes from learning to say NO to some things in order to be able to do what you really want and what feels right for you. Advice well worth taking in general – but this trio most certainly gets a YES YES YES from us!
Nina Uddin
Nina is a freelance translator and writer, who also takes her photography more and more seriously. Popular music in all its forms is her biggest passion and she keeps her finger firmly on the pulse of the Stockholm (and Swedish) music scene.
