“Ævestaden – modern folk music at its very best” – PULS

Ævestaden (NO/SE) blends long chorales, contemporary lyrics, pop songs, and a sonic landscape unafraid of clarity, grit, electronics, or tradition.

In 2025 they released their third full-length album, Ni blomster i en åker (Nine Flowers in a Field), on the label Supertraditional.

“If it feels like Ævestaden has already been around for a long time, it’s because young folk music would be missing something without their distinct character.”
- Arvid Skancke-Knutsen, Klassekampen

The Swedish–Norwegian trio debuted with the album Ingen mere gråter (No One Cries Anymore) on Heilo / Grappa in 2021. That same year, the album won the Folkelarm Prize in Open Class. By seamlessly weaving together the traditional and the modern, the group quickly secured a place on the folk music scene — and over time, attention has continued to grow.

In 2022, they released a collaborative EP with the indie band Benedikt, Jag är sen igen (I’m Late Again), on Koke Plate, followed by a collaborative album with the psychedelic rock band Kanaan in 2024, Langt, langt vekk (Far, Far Away), released on Jansen Records. The former album earned them the TONO Edvard Prize in the category Lyrics. The latter album was performed on both European and Norwegian tours, including appearances at festivals such as ØYA and Roskilde.

As a trio, the band has performed at major industry festivals across Europe and played their own concerts in countries including Poland, France, Scotland, England, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, and Belgium. They have also supported Valkyrien, Sara Parkman, and Ingrid Olava on several occasions.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall — who’s hottest in Norway right now? The answer is, strangely enough you might say, among other things: Norwegian traditional music in modern form.”
- Dagbladet

Ævestaden has appeared on television in various contexts, including the Norwegian series Ølhunden Berit and a commissioned work for the podcast Strid.

Their varied instrumental combinations — featuring lyres, fiddle, kantele, vocals, Jew’s harp, synths, and electronics — open up a unique soundscape where timeless harmonies and layers of minimalist motifs create an open, atmospheric world.

“A stark, stripped-down sound world moving toward an almost reduced simplicity, bordering on a kind of naïvism through reprises and repetitions.”
- Magnus Östnäs (Lira Musikmagasin)

The songs explore the conscious and the subconscious — the worldly and the sacred — life and death. They portray powerful emotions, ranging from an intense prayer to be granted entry into the Kingdom of God, to the longing that someone, someday, might think of you in the evenings.

The trio received a NOPA grant in 2022 and has appeared on the TV program NRK Scenen since January 2023. They were nominated for the Songlines Music Awards 2023 in the Europe category. In 2024, they received the Manifest Gala Award for Solen var bättre där in the category Folk Album of the Year. In 2025, the trio was named Artist of the Year at the Folk & World Music Gala in Sweden.

“Neither pop nor jazz. Just modern, good, and exciting folk music.”
- Arild Rønsen (PULS)

Kenneth Lien – kravik lyre, Jew’s harp, vocals, octave fiddle
Levina Storåkern – cow horn, fiddle, kantele, vocals, electronics
Eir Vatn Strøm – vocals, kravik lyre, electronics, synth