What does Highasakite sound like?

Norwegian indie pop band that swapped the guitars for synths and kept their indie rock songwriting throughout the switch.

The review of ‘Testament’ by Highasaskite

It’s been almost a decade since Norwegian indie pop band Highasakite stripped out their guitars from their music and went fully in on synths first. After an initial wow-factor, their mid-tempo follow-ups didn’t land quite as strongly with me. I think it is because the darker elements of their music had been turned down a few notches. That issue doesn’t seem to be present on their new album ‘Testament’. This is a much moodier and darker affair, full of religious lyricism and sadder themes.

Opening with raging, angsty, bass-fuzzing synths, ‘Messiah’ is a booming power chord purge. Each note is a huge stab of synths that bleed out like poison. Hiding in the background is some intricate guitar work and synth bubbles that peek through in the quiet moments. Singer and band-lead Ingrid commands the minimalist choruses with just her voice and some dark atmospherics. She uses this style across the album, but it’s particularly bold here, marking it a fantastic opening track. If you want drama and panoramic sound that sets the scene dramatically, this is your track! ‘Biblical’ takes a country folk guitar riff and adds in vocal samples and airy synths for what could have been a straight-to-radio pop classic. Instead, drums are absent for the vast majority of the track, and even when jaunty trumpets join in for the catchy bridge, the lack of bass or drums turns the happier elements into something quietly sombre. It’s this kind of eschewing of pop tropes that made Highasakite stand out years ago, and it’s clearly back again. A driving, synth-pop rhythm smashes its way through like a retrowave classic for ‘Call me when you need me’, delivering the radio-hit feel. Again, it’s in a darker, bassier, moody tone, with some great monk-like backing vocals that add an off-kilter element to it.

‘Chemotherapy’ features Jonas Benyoub on vocals in this sombre and cinematic ballad. Moving from vinyl-spitting piano verses to panoramic synth organs in the chorus, a communion is taking place in this track that lets the understated vocal delivery hit you perfectly in the feels. In an era of maximalist indie pop, which is something Highasakite occasionally do, the wise restraint makes this track a cathartic classic. The second collaboration on the album brings Swedish singer-songwriter Miriam Bryant in for ‘So cool’. Miriam provides chopped-up vocal riffs as codas between the strident power-ballad beats and glissando guitars hiding underneath the synths. Whilst there is definitely some gratuitous vocoder pitchbending going on, this is a track that, after a few listens, will be stuck in your head.

Sombre victories feel like the musical emotion that the album is going for, and nowhere is that better expressed than in ‘Make it’. What starts out as a fairly catchy but quite generic indie-pop track transforms into something quite dramatic with its added brass arrangements. The brass is euphoric, but everything else sounds tired and in a slightly minor key. Juxtaposing the two, with Ingrid’s bellowing vocals, elevates everything to a different level. In a similar vein, ‘But, I loved’ does the same thing but swaps brass for thick rotary organs. The swaying, stumbling beat paired with the layered vocals of Ingrid’s backing vocals turns the track into a rock gospel track designed for live performance. This is a perfect set closer, where the lighters can sway and the tears can be shed.

With lots of regret and struggles covered through life, love and health, ‘Farewell’ tackles familial relationships. The lyrics ask of a parent being proud of watching someone grow up, and are they as proud of them as Ingrid is of watching them grow up in the process. The track is largely an electric guitar and gentle synth noodle. Then it breaks out into a church organ bridge that hits fantastically, given the underplayed nature of the song. It’s a wonderful closing track and packs some of the more complex emotions into its closing remarks. There is a bonus piece hidden instrumental track called ‘Requiem’, which is a beautiful pipe organ track. It sounds like it was recorded live “in-room”. You can hear the pedals and pipes creak and blow, adding to the delicate atmosphere. If you can get the extra track, do it; it’s a suitably humble closer.

Whilst they’ve never been “away”, for me and my preference for darker, moodier indie pop, Highasakite is back. This is my favourite release from them since ‘Camp Echo’ in 2017. It takes the rock sensibilities the band started with, transfers them to a synthwave-esque setting, and adds emotional depth and a murky tone to it. There are still catchy hits in waiting, but the album has focus, range and gravitas, too. ‘Testament’ is one of my favourite indie pop albums of 2025.

Recommended track: Call me when you need me

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