Biography

Blänk – Aúrinko Rising in the North: i ATL

Cold weather, big dreams, Deep House, Hip-Hop, Pop and three eclectic personalities with a commonality of northern roots is what fuels our sound. Hello, we are Blänk.
 
Klas is still producing, Lina is still singing, and Simon is still rapping. Blänk is ready to build on the success of our debut album You’ve never been to Sápmi and continue evolving the unique blend of musical styles we’ve dubbed as “Eurotrash” with a new series of releases on the horizon. Our latest effort is a collection of songs conceptualized and recorded during a stint in Atlanta by the whole Blänk crew. We all piled into Simon’s tiny apartment on the north side and drank, partied, laughed, cried, argued and poured our hearts out, resulting in our new EP Aurinko Rising in the North: i ATL.
 
With more new releases in the works, we aim to shed light and infuse originality into a stagnant industry. It’s the dawn of a new day in music, but perhaps the sun doesn’t rise in the East this time.
 
It’s rising in the North.
Good morning.
 
 
Wait, Who is Blänk Again?
We are from a city in northern Sweden’s Lappland region not too far from the Arctic Circle called Luleå. In the winter months, which means most months, the sun only stays up for a few hours and the temperature is around -20 degrees Celcius. Because we didn’t want to (ok fine, we couldn’t) play professional Ice Hockey or work at the local steel mill like most people from Luleå, we had to dream big and set our sights on moving on from country living to conquer the world.
 
While none of us became an alligator wrestler, intergalactic ruler or the next Chuck Norris as planned, we did find that years of cold and darkness followed by venturing out into the world shaped us into interesting people making interesting tunes. Edgy no-nonsense attitude intact, Lina emerged as a punk rocker trapped in a pop star’s body; Simon turned into a strange combination of deep thinker and party animal with rap star aspirations; Klas became a producer and the master architect behind Blänk’s unique sound. Oh well.
 
Since 2008 we’ve split our time between Sweden and Atlanta, GA. The new environments and crazy experiences were great creative fuel for our music, and in 2009 we independently released our debut album You’ve Never Been to Sápmi. The album spawned a couple well-received singles, most notably “Shirt Off,” which seems to have traveled more than any one of us in Blänk has; in addition to major blog coverage, radio spins, international club presence and fairly handsome sales (we got to buy a studio!), it also gave us the opportunity to perform from Sweden to all over the US and open for acts like Wale, Lupe Fiasco and the Cool Kids. In fact, legend has it that if you walk down any college frat row and listen carefully, you can still hear “Shirt Off” playing softly in the wind. No, really.
 
With a series of Aurinko Rising in the North projects on the verge, Blänk is once again ready to show the world what happens when three strange minds from Sweden come together and make Eurotrash.