Lying in bed, Karin My heard the stereo through her bedroom wall…
Her parents played Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and Tangerine Dream, so it was no surprise when she joined Nemo, a band that fast got a name for energetic live performances but only managed one demo and a few compilations. When Nemo split in the early 2000s, Karin moved from small town Skåne to Gothenburg. She busked until, one day, she was noticed by TV4, Sweden’s premier commercial channel. They broadcast her version of Blinkar Blå by Adolphson & Falk, and it immediately caught the eye of two promotors. They decided she was better suited to performing on stage than the streets. Gigs followed, she worked as a studio vocalist and a touring member, then, in early 2019, she felt ready to release a first single alone. The Silence was part one in a tetralogy of songs outlining the theme of a full-length album. Well, that album (Silence Amygdala) was finished last year and released last month.
Songs that form the bulk of Silence Amygdala are based on poems by Karin, and those that aren’t are still personally important. The cover of VNV Nation’s Homeward, for example, serves not only as a penultimate stop, but also looks back at Karin’s life as a busker. Recorded over several years, Karin describes the album as like “opening a long-forgotten diary and reading it carefully, ignoring every impulse to close it, and instead trying to shine a light on the unseen and unsaid.” She says adding music to words, and making them “less piercing”, is something that still hurts, but is no longer terrifying. Silence Amygdala is a chance for Karin to close the diary, burn it and move on.
KARIN MY is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Find her music here.
This article has also been published in Nordic Style Magazine.
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