As the days and nights get colder, and we enter full-fledged winter, it becomes more and more difficult to justify taking the BMW out. In the cold, it’s almost better to just walk. But I braved the chill and barely-working defrost on December 2, taking the car out for one last night show before the new year. It would be a good one, filled with dreamy music pretty much throughout.

Solander is a Swedish folk-pop trio that creates mystically beautiful songs. Their latest is called “Flight” and it is just as pleasant and sad as the band’s prior work (you can hear tracks dating back to 2009′s “Looking For Gold”, which we raved about, on bandcamp). Solander handed “Flight” over to Iris Piers for a video and the result is ethereal and dream-like with amazing color and fantastic footage.

It’s been a few months since I threw together a podcast, so I figured it was about time for another one. Besides, I’ve been working diligently on a mix-tape for a new local pal, Brett Sandström, whom I met after purchasing a Tullycraft single on eBay – he being the seller, both of us being astonished to find other Tullycraft fans in Skagit County. What began as a modern tribute to light garage pop ultimately changed direction to hint at songs that fit a sweltering, hot summer day.

Last year I raved about Solander‘s “Looking For Gold” off their album Since We Were Pigeons. Their pop sensibilities were easily likened to fellow Swedish countrymen Fredrik (whom with they share a member or two). Well Solander is back with a three-song single called Narcissus, available for free download over at BandCamp. “Narcissus” begins softer, with less of the experimental pop style found on “Looking For Gold”. Instead, the first half is soft and dreamy. The experimental pop enters just past the midpoint; a quicker …

From Sweden comes Solander, a band made of one Fredrik Karlsson who is also an instrumental part of the band Fredrik (though whose namesake he shares only by coincidence). The relation is more than mere presence, as the two groups share a love for beautifully melodic pop. The latest news from Karlsson and Solander is that the band has signed to Swedish label Tenderversion for the release of debut LP Since We Are Pigeons.