Titiyo‘s deep vocals are dark and full of mystery. It doesn’t matter whether the song is an upbeat Swedish electro-dance tune, as she often creates, or one soft with subtle, heartfelt melodies. Her latest endeavor, Hidden, is out soon on Despotz Records. It finds her collaborating with the likes of Moto Boy, whose Jeff Buckley style guitar/vocals mesh perfectly with Titiyo’s for a sound that may be her most moving yet. The video, directed by Johan Tholson and Titiyo herself, finds the duo in a hotel elevator and is quite haunting.

Hidden is slated for release stateside early next year.

Titiyo: Crystal Clear Mud [mp3]

Above photo by Jesper Berg.

Swedish artist Moto Boy has a very Jeff Buckley aura to his persona, from his highly powerful vocal styling to the cleanly plucked guitar. So, it’s no surprise to hear that he’s covered Buckley live. This introduction is merely a focal point, an introduction to Moto Boy, whose latest tidbit of news is that label cohorts Regina remixed his song “Young Love”.

Moto Boy’s maintains the Buckley-esque vocals here, but due to the remix status, the guitars are stripped away for a sound much more dance-riddled, filled with beats and tambourines and sounds much in line with the music Regina makes. It starkly opposes Moto Boy’s traditional sound, oft minimalistic featuring Moto Boy alone on vocals and guitar.

Hearing the two songs back to back, it’s astonishing to hear how well the dance remix version by Regina works, and how emotive and dreamy the original is without the added beats and electronics.

“Young Love” in its original form can be found on Moto Boy’s self-titled debut LP, available now on Songs I Wish I Had Written. Moto Boy also released For Martha via the same label.

Moto Boy: Young Love (Regina Remix) [mp3]

Moto Boy: Young Love [mp3]

Written by Fense

I discovered Moto Boy way back when the group first signed to Songs I Wish I Had Written. That was back in mid 2007. Moto Boy is Oskar Humlebo and his melodies are pleasant and vibrant and a bit flamboyant. And these traits all surface in the song and surreal video for “Ride My Wild Heart”.

Like the Songs I Wish label, Moto Boy hails from Sweden. Looking at various photos and videos and cover art by Moto Boy, they display him as somewhat of a Swedish Antony Heggarty in that there’s a bizarre sexuality and femininity about him. Then again, you could also reference the Bowie glam era.

Moto Boy’s voice has a yearning, romantic edge to it—it’s not so much a Heggarty as it is a Jeff Buckley. The instrumentation usually finds Moto Boy backed by stripped down electric guitar pop and soft percussion, with a selective space-y drone; his performances tend to feature him and his electric metal guitar. And that can be heard on several of his songs, like “Young Love”, “What It Was Like To Be With You”, and here on “Ride My Wild Heart”.

Per the usual, I’ve included the mp3 of the song for your enjoyment. Oh, yeah, and another from Moto Boy’s self-titled release.

Moto Boy: Ride My Wild Heart [mp3]

Moto Boy: What It Was Like To Be With You [mp3]