“Beautifully melodic while cutting deep, iris is capable of breaking your heart in the softest way possible….moving with a quiet grace, the lyric tugs at your soul.” – Clash Magazine
She’s been one of the most talked about Scandinavian song writers for some time now, but after one hell of a year 25-year-old Norwegian Vilde Iris Hartveit Kolltveit – best known to the world as iris – is ready to let the world hear her debut album. love and other disasters is due for release next year and brand new single – the truly moving “lavender and heaven” – is first up, and it’s out today.
– https://orcd.co/lavender_and_heaven/
It’s not been an easy journey for iris to get to this point in 2020. Following on from her debut EP A Sensitive Being and last year’s Femme Florale she was poised to spend some time in London making music, but as coronavirus closed down the world she returned to Norway and circumstances forced her to quarantine at her parents’ home, only escaping for late night walks as some release for her growing frustration with everything. Yet, out of this darkness came song after song about love: losing it, feeling it blossom anew, being overwhelmed by the physical euphoria of it.
“lavender and heaven”, like all the other songs to come from this period, was produced with Askjell Solstrand (best known for his production and writing credits on tracks for Aurora and Sigrid). iris and Askjell share a love of quiet beauty and hidden drama. This can be found in heart-stirring chord changes, gentle electronics that lightly carry iris’s words and a mix of widescreen cinematic sounds, jazz and, of course, pop songs that burrow their way into your heart and mind.
