Kalandra

Wardruna-approved quartet filling the gap between Norwegian folk and ambitious prog.

Katrine Stenbekk was studying music at the Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts when she came up with what would become Kalandra. “I really missed vocal techniques from all over the world being a bit more mainstream,” the Norwegian singer tells //Prog//. “I felt like I was hearing the same thing over and over in the charts and even in the metal scene. I wanted to make music that made my heart sing and resonated with me.”

It’s now been 13 years since the band started, and the four-piece have perfected their distinct fusion of folk and prog. Broadly speaking, they layer Stenbekk’s exotic vocals, inspired by everything from Scandinavian tradition to sea shanties, over contemporary and eclectic rock. //Are You Ready?//, from new album //A Frame Of Mind//, builds from hypnotic melodies and acoustic guitars to electronic percussion and rumbling riffs. //Bardaginn// contrasts the modern guitar/bass/drums setup with ancient-sounding singing, whereas //State Of The World// is a self-professed Simon & Garfunkel moment. It sings about the 21st-century world, but contrasts that theme by using only traditional instruments.

“All of us have very different influences,” Stenbekk explains, gesturing to guitarists Jogeir Daae Mæland and Florian Döderlein Winter beside her. “When we do one song that sounds very specific, I know that we won’t necessarily be able to make a whole album that sounds like that, because we get bored very easily. We have to experiment.”

Stenbekk met Mæland and Winter while studying in Liverpool. The trio settled in Oslo after graduating and, in 2017, had their lineup rounded out by drummer Oskar Johnsen Rydh. Debut album //The Line// came out in 2020, by which point Kalandra had existed for nearly a decade. The time was used well, though. As well as refining their material, the band pursued a deal with ByNorse Music: a label dedicated to championing innovative, Nordic art, headed by Wardruna mainman Einar Selvik.

“I tend to politely stalk bands and people that I feel are in the same universe,” Stenbekk explains with a laugh. “I sent him one of our songs, and I think he just replied with a thumbs up [emoji] at the time. Four years went by, we released some more music, and I told him, ‘Hello! We’ve changed a bit!’ He was like, ‘Oh, this is actually quite nice!’”

Following //A Frame Of Mind//’s 2024 release, Kalandra returned to the UK, playing it as part of their first-ever headline tour. The date in Manchester, up the road from where the band met and studied, marked something of a full-circle moment. “Quite a few of our friends came,” Mæland gratefully remembers. “That was nice.”

Looking ahead, Kalandra say they still have many more instruments to play with and soundscapes to explore. “We want to do an orchestral thing,” reveals Winter. “Every release, we try new instruments. In the future, there’s lots more we want to learn and experiment with and have fun with. We also want to experiment with more synthesised things. There’s nothing we can’t try!” MM

PROG FILE

LINEUP: Katrine Stenbekk (vocals), Jogeir Daae Mæland (guitars), Florian Döderlein Winter (guitars), Oskar Johnsen Rydh (drums)

SOUNDS LIKE: Time-travelling songs which cast shamanic vocals against diverse and modern rock

CURRENT RELEASE: //A Frame Of Mind// is out now via ByNorse

WEBSITE: www.kalandra.no

— Matt Mills