Menke's debut single "Moln" is an ambitious, sweeping and poetic beauty

"Moln" (which is Swedish for "cloud") is based on a poem by Karin Boye and is as suitably dramatic and moving as the poet's life and works.

Ostensibly a folk song, Menke develops the track's fragile opening of plucked guitar and whispered (Swedish) vocal by adding soft percussion, ambient noise...and as "Moln" builds to a chorus, strings sweep in and lift the track to new and wonderful heights.

”People often ask: why Karin Boye? Why 'Moln'?" says Menke. "There are probably a hundred reasons on why choosing Boye but the simple truth is that I more or less stumbled over her poetry by accident. I was just home one day, and out of boredom I picked a book randomly from the bookshelf. That book was a collection of poems by Karin Boye. I opened it up and read the first one, a poem called ’Moln’. It struck me like lightning. The words had such a strong impact on me and as I read along I kept hearing this music in my head. I picked up the nearest instrument, my banjo, and started playing the song. I’ve lived with the song quite some time now and watched it grow and evolve. And here it is.”

A grand, dark and beautiful piece of personal song writing, "Moln" is quite the introduction to Menke.