Swedish psych-pop-rock artist MIYNT, who regular life knows as Fredrika Ribbing, isn’t exactly a new face around these parts. She released her debut EP EP No.1 way back in 2016, and followed it up with another, the very special Stay On Your Mind, with a spectacular, stargazing title track, in 2019. We even caught up with her for a little ride around Stockholm harbour back then. This week however, marks a very big step forward for her, as she releases her debut album, Lonely Beach. For those who are already fans, the album is a stroll through everything that made you fall for MIYNT’s music in the first place – strutting, slinking psych-rock meets pop, with warmth running through the tapes, and a matador’s sense of dramatic style. For the newcomers, it’s music that’s doesn’t need much of an introduction, to worm its way into your head forever. The album lands on Friday, and we caught up with MIYNT for a few questions ahead of it.

So, to begin with, how does it feel to be finally putting out the debut album?

It feels good. I’m happy that it will now exist outside my private Soundcloud. I’m excited to play it live and I also feel stoked to close this chapter, and focus on finishing the new music that I’m currently working on.

It’s been a long release process, which is I guess the case for a lot of artists in corona times, with the first singles from the album emerging back in 2020. When did work start on the album, and how was the day-to-day process in the studio of putting it together?

It started in 2020, and yes, corona has been a factor in delaying the process for sure. I didn’t start making this album with a clear plan of what it would be like, but kind of halfway through the process I started understanding where it was heading.

It might not be the most cohesive album I will ever make, but it is a timeline of where my head was at those two years.

You’ve said you wanted to work in a more analogue way on this album, has that bled into the sound of the songs, do you think?

Well I moved away from the midi-synth that’s for sure, but it is not recorded on tape. Although most instruments are recorded without any shortcuts. I just enjoy when music sounds and feels organic and I’m definitely not a perfectionist, ask my band [laughs]. I almost wish I was more of that, I work fast.

It feels like you’ve been able to display a few new styles on this record, whether in songs like Aria and Vanilla Sky, with their more abstract, looser structures, or a song as stripped-back and exposed as Vision In The Sky. Was that because you wanted to go and explore new ways of writing, or just the extra space of an album allowing you to include more different types of songs?

I have a lot of different genres in me, I also don’t like making the same song over and over again, it felt more exciting to explore different arrangements and dynamics. I think that I always will do that because I get kind of bored of repetition.

Even just a quick glance at the song titles brings up a lot of sun, travel, beach and sky – is escapism, dreaming of being somewhere else a big theme of the album for you?

Well, both yes and no. Songwriting for me can be a way to escape for sure, I love a song to be like a room in the room. And if it’s a good idea for a song you feel obligated to put furniture in it and finish it. That room could also be a beach or a thought, and it might become a full song as long as you want to hang out in it for a while.

You’ve started playing live a lot more recently, and now have a settled band. How do you think that affects the evolution of MIYNT’s sound, and does it expand the things you’ve able to do with your music?

I want to record the next album on tape with my full band, so it will definitely affect the sound. Now I move more towards writing songs that are fun to play live and that also sound the same live as in the recordings.

Lonely Beach is out on May 6 on B3SCI Records. 

Every Monday the treasure hunt squad from the NBHAP staff is bringing an exciting new artist to your attention along with a 30-track-strong Introducing Playlist over on Spotify as we add ten strong songs by fresh acts on top of it. Feel invited to follow the playlist and give these talents a good spin.

This week’s picks include brand new music from artists like Moon Panda, Hana Vu, and Mall Girl. Come and hit the play button.