From teenage dirtbag to avenging angel, Merely dazzles in new video

Kristina Florell (she who is Merely) describes “Scandinavia”, the opening track on last year’s Nirvana album, as a song “about me trying to break free from other peoples’ expectations of who I am, ideas about me being a certain way because of my gender, where I grew up and how I behave.” As teardrop piano gives way to a looped beat and fizzing percussion, Merely sings “they say I am okey-dokey / I don’t mind if they are wrong” and it’s clear this is not a love song for her home nations. Florell’s voice leaps from an almost conversational tone in the verses to skyscraping falsetto in the chorus, providing a juxtaposition of warmth and then jagged iciness as the music switches from cool electro to all-out blissful Balearics.

Olson’s accompanying video is spectacular, with Merely acting as an avenging angel, first dressed in all-white before capturing some of the song’s darkness by appearing in militaristic black, against a stunning Nordic landscape. This is a song about being moulded by what’s around you, and the battle to become your own person in the face of tradition and expectation: Merely’s forthright tract against misconceptions should be seen as a battle-cry and an aspiration.