About this event
The dream world has inspired great works of art for centuries, and it is here that Scandinavian alt-prog-folk artisans Kalandra have found their place. Formed while studying at Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, the band have spent 15 years developing an elegant blend of Nordic pop sensibility and dark atmospheric rock. Their acclaimed 2020 debut The Line has surpassed 54 million streams, followed by the Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands soundtrack in 2022 and the majestic A Frame Of Mind in 2024. After a sold-out headline show at Oslo’s 1,300-capacity Rockefeller, Kalandra now return with The Other Side, a concept album built around dreaming. The album’s theme was established before the writing began, with the band keeping dream journals and transforming their nocturnal visions into songs. “Everything can fit into dreams lyrically speaking,” says guitarist Florian, whose musical approach was equally shaped by the concept. Across the record, dreamy and nightmarish textures meet themes of folklore, current events, introspection, life and death. That contrast takes different forms throughout the album. Faroese singer-songwriter Elinborg joins the brisk and tense Animal, while A Ship Has Left The Shore strips everything back to haunting vocals and piano, quietly exploring the loss of someone dear. Its uncluttered arrangement reflects a broader “less is more” philosophy that shaped the record. Part of this new focus came from writing the album while building the band’s own studio. With less opportunity for elaborate arrangements and experimentation, Kalandra embraced a more direct approach, discovering that a single powerful sound could sometimes create more energy than a hundred smaller ones. The result further establishes Kalandra’s distinctive musical identity, balancing shimmering joy with melancholy, ancient atmospheres with contemporary sounds, and otherworldliness with deep roots in nature. While The Other Side draws inspiration from artists ranging from Alice In Chains and Bring Me The Horizon to Dead Can Dance, Pyke and Leonov, the band remain committed to following their own singular muse. “To me it’s about trying to write something I haven’t heard before,” says Florian. That individuality has inspired an intensely devoted fanbase, drawn to the emotional and healing power of Kalandra’s music. Yet for singer Katrine, writing about mental health while navigating the attention economy creates a difficult balance between connection and vulnerability. The band continue to explore how much of themselves to share while protecting the intimacy at the heart of their music. Their ambitions, however, are anything but restrained. With The Other Side in hand, Kalandra are looking toward bigger tours, bigger crowds and bigger stages. Florian’s ultimate dream? “I’ll only be happy once we’ve done a Rammstein-sized show” — complete with a nuclear power plant on wheels. FOR FANS OF : Eivør, Wardruna, Agnes Obel
