Stockholm’s Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends – the solo project of a former guitarist and vocalist in Swedish band Redmoon – released “Bells of Silver” on April 23rd, the English-language version of a song that previously appeared in Swedish as “Vagnar av guld” back in January. Rather than a direct translation, the English lyrics were rewritten from scratch around the same themes. The song is a letter to his children and grandchildren, with snapshots from his own childhood folded in, and it will appear on the forthcoming full-length The King and the Sparrow, due May 2026. Backing vocals in the style of The Beach Boys are provided by David Myhr of the Merrymakers – a longtime collaborator who also plays Hammond here – with organic drums from Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck rounding out the arrangement.
This song reminds me of 70s-style singer-songwriter songs with how concise the writing is. Every bit of music only exists to serve the lyrics and the message left to his children. It’s a deeply poignant and moving performance that transcends how simple the song is on paper – its emotional core trumps any need for a complicated arrangement to shine through.
The Beach Boys and Beatles influences are audible in the melodic construction without ever feeling like pastiche. For a project that has been quietly building a catalog since 2021 – a double album, a full-length in 2023 digging into Americana, and now a folk-leaning direction on the new record – “Bells of Silver” lands as one of the more emotionally direct things in that body of work. Simple on purpose, and better for it.
