August 22, 2016 — “In My Dreams You Walk Away All The Time” by Julie Stokkendal

Julie Stokkendal

If you only listen to one song tonight, make it “In My Dreams You Walk Away All The Time” by Julie Stokkendal.

Julie Stokkendal is a dream folk singer/songwriter from Bergen, Norway. Or Copenhagen, Denmark. I know absolutely nothing about this woman. I don’t know how long she’s been around, how many records she’s put out, or what’s on the horizon for her. The only thing that I’ve been able to learn from the internet is that she used to collaborate with fellow Norwegian Einar Stray and his orchestra.

Earlier today, I got a notification from SoundCloud that Julie Stokkendal started following my feed. As I always do in these situations, I clicked through to her feed. I saw her songs, and listened to this one about six times in a row.

I’m reminded of some familiar things like Azure Ray, Lori Carson, Julee Cruise, and even Katie Crutchfield. But much dreamier than any of that. Well, maybe not dreamier than the music of Julee Cruise, but you get the idea.

Without further ado, here’s tonight’s song:

“In My Dreams You Walk Away All The Time” by Julie Stokkendal

This is really pretty and really dreamy, but it’s about a gal who has been dumped, and she’s sad, but she’s trying to pretend that she’s moved on with her life. Right out of the gate, we get some of that:

I look into other eyes now
But I can’t find eyes like yours, of course

Then, later, we get that she’s sort of stalking her ex lover:

Have you seen me outside of your window?
I walk by often to see if you are home
If you are alone
Do you love someone now?
And how is she compared to me?

And then the bitterness over the breakup:

How come you don’t love me now?
You said you’d never change your mind
But you changed your mind
And how is she compared to me?

It’s got heartbreak. It’s got creepiness. It’s got angst. It’s got self-doubt. It’s a really lovely song and it uses all of those things perfectly. Mostly, though, it’s just a gorgeous song.

As I said, I have no idea if there’s a forthcoming EP or album, or if this is a standalone digital single. I don’t know if she’s on a label. I don’t know anything else. I can’t find anything about her. I just hope that there’s plenty more to come.