Ida Maria

Born Ida Maria Sivertsen, she reached an international audience with Fortress Round My Heart in 2008. Oh My God and I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked made the debut's directness immediately clear. The band could move quickly and hit hard, but the songs also had memorable melodic outlines beneath the abrasive surface.

The singing was central to the appeal. It could sound exuberant and close to breaking within the same line, making the records feel less controlled than their compact pop structures actually were. The humour of a title or a blunt declaration did not remove the vulnerability; it often gave the performance a way to expose it without slowing the music down.

Katla followed in 2010, with Bad Karma among its defining songs. The second album gave Ida Maria further room to work with forceful rock arrangements, retaining the sense of a singer willing to let a phrase become physically rough. It extended the early identity rather than replacing it with a carefully softened version.

Scandalize My Name in 2016 made a more unexpected move, interpreting American spirituals for Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Musicians including Erland Dahlen, Geir Sundstøl and Kjetil Bjerkestrand supplied percussion, strings, harmonium and other textures around her. The changed repertoire made the continuity easier to hear: the voice that had delivered an unruly rock chorus could also give older songs of struggle and faith an immediate, searching presence.