Music
Press
The art of reverse-pickpocketing is a rare one. It was once used to deliver a CD-R demo to Mike Skinner of the Streets; he was so impressed he immediately signed the band (the Mitchell Brothers—sadly ignored) as soon as he checked his pockets. It’s also how Andreas Høvset and Vik Gundersen got their break, slipping a disc to Matias Tellez after they stood near him at a concert. It goes to show you there are still multiple ways into the industry, and you should never leave home without a flashdrive, steady hands, and soft-soled shoes.
One of two tracks produced by Tellez, “Nytt” is a slice of quirky Norwegian pop that goes through an enjoyable identity crisis. Carried on swooning ‘80s keyboards, it uses Norse-accented crooning to imply A-Ha: The Opera Years before switching to guitar and tambourines, reminiscent of Adam Ant—if he’d been raised in Scandinavia. The ambient, otherworldly final bridge adds another side to the confusion, but Verdensromet make it work, as inventive at subverting the guitar pop formula as they are at invading producers’ personal space. - Cokemachineglow.com
Verdensrommet from Skien in Norway started last year as a songwriter project between Andreas Høvset and Vetle Vik Gundersen. Now, they released their first single produced by Young Dreams member and multi-talent Matias Tellez on the Bergen label Nabovarsel.
Grown to a four-piece now their Phil Spector-esque sound is influenced by floating pop harmonies of the Beach Boys and reminiscent of Strokes guitars, subtle Radio Dept. distortion and shimmering Animal Collective synths. Imagine standing on top of a Norwegian fjord looking down to the water, breathing the fresh air and listening to their tunes. It can be your summer moment 2012. - Nordic by Nature Berlin
"While Sweden may have been something of an indie-pop hotbed recently with bands like The Tough Alliance, Jens Lekman, and Peter Bjorn and John, the rest of Scandinavia hasn’t been sitting idle. Enter: Verdensrommet, a project founded by 18-year-olds Andreas Høvset and Vetle Vik Gundersen, who hail from Skien, Norway.
Verdensrommet's new single “Nytt” is a beautifully realized piece of pop, with sweet guitars and an evocative, low-sung croon that takes equal influence from Animal Collective and The Smiths (with a dash of Phil Spector’s string arrangements). For two teenagers singing in Norwegian, “Nytt” is remarkably universal; don’t let the language barrier bother you — everything you need to know is in the melody." - Refinery 29
"Verdensrommet are a late entry, and I am including them in part because ‘Nytt’ (which means ‘new’) was sent to me by a charming Norwegian fellow who was kind enough to translate their foreign. In doing so, he admitted some of the poetry had been lost, so I will just tell you that it seems to be about seeing someone you once loved, but they have moved on, but it doesn't stop you having a bit of wrongtime together. So it’s about longing, and the future, and that thing that happens when you see someone you had a life with but now they’re all different, as if they occupied a parallel universe; romantic Chaos Theory. And it starts out quite ‘My Girls’, if ‘My Girls’ was simultaneously a) sung as a torch song; b) sung under a spotlight; c) not a paean to homesteads / domestic bliss and d) more about secret, regretful snogs. Absolutely charming, either way." - DrownedinSound.com
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Verdensrommet started in 2011 as a songwriter project between Andreas Høvset and Vetle Vik Gundersen, who were both entering their final year at high school in Telemark (yes, the region in Norway where the Kirk Douglas-classic Heroes of Telemark takes place). After recording a demo, they decided to give it to Matias Tellez at his band, Young Dreams', gig in Oslo that summer. He liked it, and invited Andreas and Vetle to Bergen to record the songs in his studio (where he has produced Razika, Sondre Lerche, and his own band, Young Dreams).
It was love at first sight when the 19-year-olds arrived in the west coast of Norway. Finishing high school normally means moving out to make it in the world, and it was no different for Verdensrommet. Bergen had to become the home base for them. The relationship with the music scene in the city and newly established Skogen Studios with Matias Tellez producing, 600 kilometers away from the established music business in Oslo, meant a lot to them.
The potential of the songs blossomed into a nice double-punch of space pop with Norwegian lyrics and they were joined by some of their best friends to make a complete band: Verdensrommet is now a five-piece band ready with another double single that is a serious letter of intent. Songs like Alt Det Du Sier (Til Deg Selv) and Der Hvor Du Aldri Kan Stå departs into a dream world where texture and timbre is as important as the catchy hooks they surround experimentation with.
This spring Verdensrommet are doing a national tour, with gigs in all major Norwegian cities. They have also been booked for three gigs at by:Larm, Norway's biggest and most prestigious music conference.
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