With a stadium-filling pop rock sound reminiscent of Sam Fender or Inhaler, ST. NIKLAS is back on our blog through his debut album, habits of a complex mind.
By Graeme Smith
Feature photo by Lars Evanger
The album gets going on the front foot thanks to lush, slow-building opening of ICSTWYWHN. Chanting vocals are rich with emotion before it explodes into a crashing climax which proves an early highlight. Things don’t let up from there.
Phone calls from home is also a highlight – vibrant, pacy and confessional in its lyrics and we also get plenty of shades of love, romance and heartbreak in tracks like jumpstart, antidote and the gigantic anthem and lead single if we never met that night.
There’s also a delightful return to ST. NIKLAS’s duet with DØSSI, comfy, which first appeared on these pages in 2023. It’s great to revisit as part of this album and it still sounds great.
Okay is quiet, reflective, acoustic moment that beautifully showcases ST. NIKLAS’s expressive vocals before closing title track habits of a complex mind hits hard thanks to its cinematic composition and simmering style.
The Oslo, Norway-based ST. NIKLAS has been all over our pages since 2023, showing us range and plenty of emotion. The past couple of years feel like they’ve been building up to this pivotal moment for him – a debut album. I suspect it might just be what’s needed to launch him into super-stardom.
Habits of a complex mind is out now and you can give it a listen below.