If you’re from Finland or Sweden and paid attention to what was going on in popular music in the mid-90’s, you couldn’t escape Swedish folk pop duo Nordman. During the era of grunge, eurodance and gangsta rap, they were probably the unlikeliest chart climbers – especially in Finland, considering Nordman sang exclusively in Swedish.

But unlikely or not, Nordman made it. Big time. Their self-titled debut – the album we’re discussing today – topped the charts in Sweden, peaked at 17 in Finland and reached 24 in Norway. Two years later, their second album Ingenmansland (which we will return to in a later post) again topped the charts in Sweden and breached the top 10 in Finland. Their third album, Här och nu, came in 1997 and reached a respectable fifth position in Sweden and 28th in Finland, in a time when the group’s fortunes were already fading.

They were definitely something of a phenomenon.

I was 11 back when this album was released and its opening track Vandraren became an unlikely hit you heard everywhere. Back then, the duo’s amalgamation of contemporary Swedish pop and traditional folk music was definitely not my cup of tea. I did not like it, and did not buy the album.

Fast forward some ten years to the early noughties. I came across the two first Nordman CD’s at a flea market for a pittance, and bought them on a whim. I don’t really know why. But as soon as I popped this album into the CD player I was sold – I loved it.

Whilst not pure folk by any stretch of the word, there is a lot of authentic folk in the music and the arrangements. Instrumentwise, the duo utilizes a lot of folk instruments, from jew’s harps to violas to bagpipes and beyond; there’s even a bit of traditional kulning, truly ethereal sounding traditional herding call singing, on one track. The melodies are also full of real folk elements.

On the other hand, these are fleshed out with programmed drums, electric bass and synths aplenty. Especially the rhythm section is pure 90’s, with bouncing bass synth and drum synths that are 90’s to the max. And vocalist Håkan Hemlin with his rugged voice sounds like an Ikea knock-off of Bryan Adams.

The end result is brilliant, and slightly paradoxical.

On one hand, there are brilliant songs, which expertly utilize the atmospheric potential of folk instrumentation and melodies to enhance essentially very 90’s styled pop songs. Just check out aforementioned Vandraren or my personal favourite, Laglöst land.

On the other hand, the album sounds so 90’s it’s beyond cheesy. And for the very same reasons, none the less! Standard 90’s Swedish pop, on top of which folk elements have been blatantly glued.

I guess it’s a matter of perspective. If you can only view it from the latter viewpoint, you’re going to hate Nordman. The way I see it, Nordman’s debut truly is perfectly both: a genius hybrid of traditional Nordic folk and contemporary pop, and a cheesy pop monstrosity like only the 90’s could do it. The brilliance of the album comes from realizing it’s full of good music and performances – and cheesy in a very 90’s way at the same time.

It’s actually funny what kind of a phenomenon Nordman became. Swedish controversial viking rock originators Ultima Thule recorded their own, rather punked-up version of the song, and Finnish pagan metal heroes Ensiferum also took a stab at it. Håkan Hemlin would almost 30 years later feature on Amorphis guitarist Esa Holopainen’s solo album.

But it’s understandable, too: Nordman is a slice of time from another period; there’s an element of nostalgia. And at the same time, it’s genuinely good music. They were one of those weird outliers in the pop music biz, who managed to create something pretty unique and make a hit out of it. And something with lasting power.

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In From The Vaults we take a dive into the record collection at Only Death Is Real HQ and write about about items of iconic stature or personal significance; rarities and oddities from the archives; obscure gems that deserve more attention; classics of yore deserving of a moment in the limelight; and so on.