Sunturns was formed as a Christmas super group by members of Oslo indiepop bands Monzano, My Little Pony and Einar Stray Orchestra. Those bands aren’t around anymore, but the band members have other projects, such as Flight Mode, The Little Hands of Asphalt, Elva, Making Marks and Mildfire. Sunturns still exists, however, with the same name and the same line-up – strangely making it one of the most long-lived of the bands to come out of the Oslo indiepop-scene of the early 2000s. Since it is a Christmas band, they only play shows at a particular time of year. You guessed it: Christmas.

The name Sunturns refers to the original meaning of Christmas in the North, namely the winter solstice and the “turning” of the sun. Instead of getting shorter and shorter, the days start to get longer. Big hurray, but spring is still a long time away. The band is named after the song “The Sun Turns”, which opened the debut album Christmas I, and was originally recorded by My Little Pony. Christmas II also has a song with the phrase “sunturns” (The Axial Tilt), and on Christmas III it pops up again in the track First Winter.

Sunturns are:
Ola Innset – vocals, guitars, banjo etc.
Sjur Lyseid – vocals, guitars etc.
Einar Stray – vocals, keyboards, guitars etc.
Eivind Almhjell – guitars, bass, etc.
Simen Herning – guitar
Jørgen Nordby – drums

The Norwegian super-group with members from Making Marks, The Little Hands of Asphalt, Mildfire, Flight Mode and Elva return with a third album of original Christmas songs. 

Get into that alternative, Nordic Christmas spirit!

Christmas III at its heart is an alt-Christmas album: the songs are firmly rooted in December’s festivities, albeit not usually relying on the season’s traditional reference points. The songs hone in on the more ambivalent sides of Christmas - family, customs and the passing of time - with a keen eye towards the holidays’ most obvious function in countries close to the Artic circle: getting through the cold and dark times to celebrate the winter solstice and the turning of the sun. 

Drawing from Sufjan Stevens’ epic indie Christmas compendium and Phil Spector’s wall of sound classic A Christmas Gift From You, Christmas III is built on shimmering guitars, snow filled piano lines, gentle strings, springy vocals and dynamic drums - all steadily conducted by Sunturns’ own Sjur Lyseid (Flight Mode, The Little Hands of Asphalt) in the producer’s seat at his Globus studio in Oslo.

Press for Sunturns

"Sunturns can perhaps be labeled an indie supergroup - or not just an indie super group, but a Christmas indie supergroup. It's something as rare as a full-time Christmas band and is comprised of some of the best musicians from the Oslo indie scene, with members from bands such as mylittlepony, Monzano and The Little Hands of Asphalt. They sing about both the nice and the more melancholic sides of Christmas." The Guardian

"The two albums have different moods though: Christmas I is the more indiepop set, from the jam-like modpop of ‘The Sun Turns’ to the charming, coltish ‘Hallelujah (Christmas Is Here)’ with its Band Aid echoes and the joyfully melodic ‘Summer For Christmas’. It also includes a cover of Swearing At Motorist’s ‘Losing Mine’ and a much darker and intense version of Low’s ‘Just Like Christmas’. Christmas II is a much gloomier affair (like the day after Boxing Day when those pesky relatives still show no sign of leaving). Opening track ‘Sunni’ is a widescreen affair, layered and complex with lots of piano, while the album ends with their cover of Ramones’ ‘Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)’, which here is just slow piano and regret-wracked voice. Indiepop fans will enjoy the albums and the contrast of the two records - the naïve charm of Christmas I balanced by the more mature reflections of Christmas II – means that all sides of Christmas are represented." SoundsXP

"All in all, we can’t think of a better soundtrack for your Christmas" JaJaJa

"You see, while the songs spin around Christmas ideas, they still have this emotional draw in the lyrics, drawing from personal experiences around the holiday. Honestly, if you didn’t hear the word Christmas, you’d likely just fall in love with the song. It’s heartwarming, both lyrically and musically." Austin Town Hall

"Split into two sides -- a light side and a dark, honouring the idiosyncrasies of the season’s forced fun -- this record consists of many original Christmas songs played by members of classic Norwegian bands, bringing them together for Live Aid-esque harmonies, flashy pianos, giddy guitar riffs and super sweet-laced balladry. The first side of the record redeems itself with a cover of Low’s “Just Like Christmas”; they take the most miserable band’s jolliest song and make it melancholy as fuck -- with the numbed dual vocals and miserable chimes, it sounds just short of Johnny Foreigner." Norman Records

"“Would You” reminds me of the best parts of The Stars… the layered vocals, the rising music, the drama. Beautiful. “The Axis Tilt” is a wonderful piece of songwriting, and that voice has to be Sjur Lyseid, right? He’s got a way with a turn of phrase, and boy can he work in some basic physics into a song!" Christmas Underground

"tracks like Looks Like Styrofoam and The Axial Tilt cross rare, uncharted Christmas territory" The Skinny

"its swelling, orchestral melodically dreamy lead track ‘Would You’" God Is In The TV

Gaffa [Norwegian]

Syd Svenskan [Swedish]