Nina Persson joins Melody A.M. for a conversation about her superb new work with the duo KITE as well as a look-back on her musical career, which spans three successful decades.

Famous for being the super-charismatic lead of popular Swedish band, The Cardigans, Persson started her career with the group in Jönköping in the early 1990s.

With massive international hits like “Carnival”, “Lovefool, “My Favourite Game” and “Erase / Rewind”, the band have managed to garner and maintain a significant global fanbase, whose loyalty has not waned despite the fact that the last Cardigans studio album came out in 2005.

Over the years, Nina has consistently tested the tether of her creativity, complementing her Cardigans projects with solo releases, not to mention a second band she started in 2001, A Camp.

Two years ago she joined James Yorkston and the Stockholm-based Second Hand Orchestra on a beautiful record called The Great White Sea Eagle, which marked something of a departure from her other releases, not merely on account of being an album recorded entirely as a live session.

After years spent living in the United States, Nina’s return to her homeland has deepened her connection with Sweden and, in our interview, she tells Melody A.M. about her favourite corner of the country. She also engages patiently and thoughtfully with a question she must get asked all the time: why can’t we have another Cardigans studio record?

Check out our Nina Persson playlist with a collection of highlights from her rich discography - you’ll find it at melodyam.com/nina

Finnish artist DWARA (Anni Kaismala) joins Melody A.M. for an in-depth conversation about all things music.

Hailing from Karttula - a part of Finland’s Kuopio region - Anni has lived in different corners of the world including India, Italy and the UK, and it was her collaboration with Spanish musician and producer, Khotton, which eventually brought about her move to Madrid, where she is currently based.

Anni has been steadily building her musical body of work since 2020, when her first single, Power, came out just before the world went into lockdown. Anni’s rich and diverse range of releases means that it would be lazy to slot the DWARA and Khotton musical universe into just one or even two genres. Theirs is a much more involved and sprawling catalogue, covering pop, rock, folk and electronica.

There’s a real strength in that, because it’s hard to get bored listening to DWARA with her discography offering surprises at every turn. Take, for example, the song There’s nothing I can’t do: it starts off as one thing and mutates through the bridge and then the chorus into something completely other.

In our interview, Anni tells Melody A.M. about the forthcoming EP, 'Plenty', as well as what her and Khotton’s creative process looks like. We also talk about being able to tell your friends “I love you” and living for the sake of the now.

Check out our DWARA playlist with some of the best moments from Anni’s discography to date. You'll find it at www.melodyam.com/dwara

Päivi Hirvonen is a musician, composer and singer, who's a linchpin figure in the Finnish folk music scene. Blending tradition with innovation, she is best known for being a true virtuoso when it comes to the fiddle and the jouhikko - a traditional Finnish bowed lyre. It’s an instrument which musicians almost entirely assigned to history by the early 20th century but - good news! - it has, in recent years, started enjoying something of a revival.

Päivi was born in Jyväskylä, a city in the centre of Finland, that has been described as “The Athens of Finland”. These days, she lives in Tampere.

In our interview, Päivi talks about creating her last album, Kallio, during the pandemic and she also reflects on how the way she worked then has moved on to bear out on her next record, which will be out in the spring.

As a member of the band Okra Playground - one of Finland’s leading contemporary folk ensembles - Päivi also gets to regularly collaborate with other musicians. Our conversation touches on how she determines whether a new emerging song would be going to Okra Playground or remain as a solo track and what it’s like working with her bandmates over the last 14 years or so.

Check out our dedicated Päivi Hirvonen playlist at www.melodyam.com/paivi with some of the gems from the Finnish musician's back catalogue, including some of her work with the band.