Norway's Lumikide return with the harmony-laden west coast pop joy of "Explorers and Destroyers"

Having just expanded to a five-piece with Pom Poko bassist Jonas Krøvel joining Birgitta Alida Hole (vocals, synths and also of Strange Hellos), Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne (guitar), Axel Skalstad (drums) and Alf Hulbækmo (keys), the band's new track "Explorers and Destroyers" is a burst of joy which refuses to bow to pop conventions.

With some members having a background in jazz music, the band effortlessly creates a three-part song structure; beginning with a Teenage Fanclub-esque guitar jangle and dreamy harmonies from Hole and Tonne, the track moves into a subdued dirge of a bridge before surprising us with a surging pop-punk outro shot through with dizzying synths. All together, it makes "Explorers and Destoryers" Lumikide's best work to date.

Guitarist Tonne tells us "'Explorers and Destroyers' is a song about love and passion, whether it is about the love of your life or about the environment or something completely different. In wanting to explore all the aspects of something and getting to know everything about it you can easily take away too much mysticism and suddenly be left with a sad uninteresting lump of something you don't really care that much for. Musically it explores both sing-song summery choruses and teenage-like outbursts, sort of as a parallel to what's going on lyrically. Extremely nerdy listeners might also notice a careful nod in Paramore's direction!"