Clutter dish up an umami tang on "Kraut"

From the fizzy-pop of ABBA to the carnal electronic beats of Tove Lo, Sweden has long been home to some undeniable music greats. Next on the line up of Nordic magic-makers is alt-rock four-piece Clutter, who siphon 90s grunge into their post-modern and fuzzied indie core to create a sparse, distorted, and unrelenting sound that perfectly suits their playfully askew aesthetic. Comprised of members Hilda Ander, Emma French, Ove Jerndal, and Ville Scott, at just 20 years old the band craft music with a nonplus and weary maturity.

With lyrics of existential dread laid atop the crunch of guitars, and spiralling against an oddly funky melody, their latest single "Kraut" is a beacon for the ever-anxious social wanderers and frazzled Gen Z-ers. Acting as both a momentary locus and respite, the track outstretches a knowing hand to fellow young adults, catching a wink in time that feels both contemporarily charged but instantly nostalgic: an umami depth of flavour much akin to the fermented cabbage of the track's title. "It captures a feeling of adolescence we all will undoubtedly lose," the band share.

"'Kraut' is a straight forward, endless cycle of static guitars," they continue. "The simple build is accompanied by emotion filled vocals and a melancholic synthesizer. It's a dreamlike krauty death dance and it's one of the first songs we ever wrote together. Hilda wrote the lyrics on her endless way home from one of the first real parties she ever attended and we wrote the music together in our old school. Recorded in Ove's tiny childhood bedroom, we were all hovered over a little synthesizer and improvised the noises at the end."

“At our first gig we only played two songs and that was one of them, so it’s quite sentimental. Playing stuff live becomes the benchmark of what we feel about a song and how a crowd reacts, and that was one of the first songs where it all felt right." Alongside "Kraut" they also treat fans to news of their debut EP, Clutter Loves You, set for release on April 11th.