Norwegian progressive rock band, 22, is releasing their new single, ‘Chroma Key’ today. It's the second new song taken from the double album, You Are Creating, which will be released on November 23 via Long Branch Records and Indie Recordings.

Guitarist Magnus Børmark about ‘Chroma Key’ : “[It’s] a song about our physical reality being in a reciprocal reflecting relationship with our inner world. Where to start if you want to make a change? It is lyrically somewhat inspired by Michael Jackson's ‘Man In The Mirror’, though our song encourages crushing the looking glass, and see what happens then. I also thought of this song as a good song to drive to, and the guitar riff was based on some tom-pattern that Andreas (the drummer) made. The title of the song alludes to a rainbow, and how all the colours combined can unlock something bigger than the individual parts. Since light is basically sound at a much higher frequency, we have used specific colours for the respective instruments in "22", so as to visually match what is going on aurally”.

22 have defined their own musical domain as an eclectic, melodic, energetic and stadium-appealing progressive rock outfit. You Are Creating is a conceptual album divided into two limbs, making it up to the listener to create a whole of these two parts, trusting the active participation of the listener. You Are Creating is an assertion made by 22 that the listener is the one creating the effects of the music they are hearing. Pitch and rhythm in different arrangements (songs) are just tools provided by the artist, which the listener utilises and thus creates the experience of music.

The band claims that it is not the artist’s stories and emotions that is “given” to the listener. The listener uses music actively to explore their own emotional, mental and spiritual realms. Therefore, music is able to create experiences on such an intimate and personal level, having millions of different people from different cultures thinking: “they are singing about my life!” or “that’s exactly how I feel” in response to hearing the exact same recording of the exact song. Consciously or not, humans use music to explore their own life, world and being.

Norwegian artist Susanna is back with a new album, Garden of Earthly Delights, set for release February 22 via her SusannaSonata label. To create this record, Susanna has gathered a new team of musicians, called The Brotherhood of Our Lady. Largely inspired by the works of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, the first single from the record ‘City of Hope’ is streaming online now. Speaking about the track, Susanna said "'City of Hope' is a manic chant for guiding in love and life, with hints of ecstasy in the horizon even though something's lurking in the undertow."

The incredible, ahead-of-its-time art of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch bears strong comparison with the music of Norwegian artist Susanna. Visionary, disturbing, spiritual; vivid images of darkness and light, good and evil, heaven and hell and the folly of mankind. Like her songs, Bosch’s iconic images range from the panoramic to the intimate, and express bliss, torment and tortuous inner conflicts.

On her 13th album, Susanna takes a selection of Bosch’s paintings as starting points for a fervent, poetic rosary of fantastical songs and stories. Tracks like ‘Gluttony and Lust’, ‘Death and the Miser’ and ‘Ship of Fools’, reflect Bosch’s depictions of sin and human weakness, while ‘Wayfarer’, ‘Ecstasy’ and ‘Beautiful Life’ suggest the transcendent search for spiritual rewards.

"While this is not a soundtrack to his paintings," she says, "I feel a resemblance between the absurdity in his pictures and today’s existence. Humanity has never been more enlightened and competent to make sustainable solutions for everyone, but we still close our eyes to poverty, environmental issues and lack of equality."

Originally a commissioned work for the Vossajazz Festival 2017, 'Garden of Earthly Delights' ranges from soul searching balladry to sonorous electronic expanses. Some listeners might catch echoes of the melodic range of Joni Mitchell, the confessional darkness of Nina Simone and the traumatised intensity of Diamanda Galas, filtered through a medieval folk and modern experimental sensibility. But there’s no mistaking the powerful, questing clarity of Susanna’s distinctive voice, and the core of symbolic imagery she draws on from ancient mythology via medieval mysticism to present-day consumer society.

'Garden of Earthly Delights' track list:

1. Garden of Earthly Delights

2. Wayfarer

3. Ecstasy X

4. Death and the Miser

5. Ship of Fools

6. Ecstasy

7. Wilderness

8. Wayfarer II

9. Gluttony and Lust

10. Beautiful Life

11. By Earth and Starry Heaven

12. City of Hope

13. River to Hell

14. Gathering of Birds