Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends – The Crow (2025)
Five years ago, musician Arne Floyd launched Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends with a flurry of singles that quickly gained traction, earning the Sweden-based musician an international audience. From those earlier releases, including albums 17 BIRDS AT THE SUMMER’S GATE in 2021 and NO SWEETS FOR E in 2023, Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends have sauntered across the realms of nostalgic power-pop, folk and indie-rock. Leaning strongly toward the whispers of yesteryear’s musical sounds, the singer-songwriter offers heartfelt and poetic, although sometimes ironic, tunes. Today, we take a gander at the most recent addition to his discography – ‘The Crow’.
Following his well-received double-single release, ‘Sing-Along Songs’ – a release that shifted from heavier indie-rock to folksy Americana in the B side, ‘Your Love’ – ‘The Crow’ retains an old-school vibe with its toe-tapping, head-bopping flutter of soft rock tone. The thing is, while I can hint at the soft rock genre for ‘The Crow’, it does not necessarily stick within that range. Yes, a wave of rock and roll lies across the tune; however, an intricate interplay of classical, indie-pop, and folk music is bound within the Bolero-inspired arrangement.
From the dramatic strings to an interspersed horn with Andreas Quincy Dahlbäck’s dynamic drums matching the toe-tapping guitar, ‘The Crow’ simultaneously swells in a grand gesture but steps along like a Spanish dancer navigating the floor. Floyd explains:
“When I wrote the song, I felt I was rewriting an old Roy Orbison tune, although I didn’t try to. Recording it, I tried to maintain that feeling with the Bolero-like rhythm, the sugary background vocals, and the dramatic gestures incorporating strings and an English horn at the emotional climaxes. The somber lyrics, with its pictures of loneliness as a crow eating from the dead, in a way go beyond the romantic melancholia of Orbison.”
So, what is my overall opinion of ‘The Crow’? Confident and bold with a powerful presence, Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends entwine vulnerable melancholy with enigmatic sonic force. A forthcoming album is set for 2026 with the promise of exploring new musical directions, but for now I remain content with this moving song.
For more from Arn-Identified Flying Objects and Alien Friends, check out his Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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