Two of our absolute favourite people behind the scenes of worldwide music have come together to form a new band. Sweden’s (Icelandic born) Arnthor Birgisson and Norway’s Ina Wroldsen are pooling their creative talents into Ask Embla.
Before we get to Ask Embla though, let’s take a quick snapshot of a few of the reasons why we love these two songwriters/producers.
Arnthor Birgisson has been behind;
Britney Spears: ‘Out From Under’
The Saturdays: ‘Higher’
Shontelle: ‘Impossible’
Jennifer Lopez: ‘Play’
Celine Dion: ‘Sorry For Love’ (that ridiculous/amazing CLUB track on her ‘A New Day Has Come’ album!)
Shayne Ward: ‘Breathless’
Shayne Ward: ‘If That’s OK With You’
Shayne Ward: ‘No U Hang Up’
Samantha Mumba: ‘Gotta Tell You’
Samantha Mumba: ‘Baby Come On Over’
Jessica Simpson: ‘Irresistible’
Nadine Coyle: ‘Put Your Hands Up’
Janet Jackson: ‘All Nite (Don’t Stop)’
Vanessa Hudgens: ‘Say OK’
Westlife: ‘Us Against The World’
Emilia de Poret: ‘Pick Me Up’
Leona Lewis: ‘My Hands’
Leona Lewis: ‘I Got You’
Ina Wroldsen has been behind;
The Saturdays: ‘Up’, ‘If This Is Love’, ‘Work’, ‘Keep Her’, ‘Ego’, ‘One Shot’, ‘Not Good Enough’, ‘Higher’, ‘Karma’, ‘Notorious’ (and lots of others too, but those ones are our favourites!)
Pussycat Dolls: ‘Hush Hush’
Jade Ewen: ‘My Man’
Shontelle: ‘Impossible’
Leona Lewis: ‘My Hands’
Leona Lewis: ‘I Got You’
Alexandra Burke: ‘Before The Rain’
Britney Spears: ‘He About To Lose Me’
As their new incarnation as Ask Embla, so far they’ve been steadily and regularly uploading tracks to their soundcloud page. As it stands now, there are 5 songs on there – and to our ears there isn’t a dud amongst them, despite the fact that they’re all very much only really demos just now.
First track ‘Ein’ is a little bit different to everything else they’ve presented. It’s a hugely melodic celtic ballad. Something which wouldn’t have sounded out of place as the theme tune to one of the films in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s heartachingly beautiful, such a stunner.
Then there’s ‘Cry Baby’, ‘Northern Light’ and ‘Father’s Eyes’, all three of them mid-tempo ballads with a slightly urban edge to them. Much more contemporary, but sharing ‘Ein’s larger size of melody. There’s nothing subtle about these tracks – they’re all about being catchy tunes. And the most recent upload ‘Winter’ sees them toy with some dancefloor orientated sounds. It’s a synth heavy club track. Probably the weakest of the songs here, but that’s hardly a critique given the strength of the heavyweights that it’s playing alongside.
It’s a thoroughly enjoyable set, and one that we keep going back to. Go visit them at their Facebook page, and ‘like’ them. We imagine these two are gonna be something worth keeping an eye/ear on. And in the meantime, You can have a listen to all five songs below. Plus if you’re in London then you can see Ask Embla perform at the Hard Rock Café tomorrow night. We envy you, if so!
Ein
Cry Baby
Northern Light
Father’s Eyes
