Øksendal is a 100% original Alternative Rock band based in Kristiansand, Norway led by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Dagfinn Øksendal. “Candid Eyes” is the debut single for upcoming album Stay for Dinner. The single has reached the top 50 Euro Chart with Musik Radio Promotions.as Oksendal was advised, “Wow! You guys are amazing! Much apreciated. Can’t wait to see what happens next week!”

“Candid Eyes” is that most rare of things, a rock song with genuine soul. The genre is usually associated with more bombastic deliveries and testosterone fuelled urges but Oksendal proves that with a little restraint, a deft use of dynamics and the ability to weave together clever melodies you can harness that wildness and use that barely contained power to create real anticipation, real intensity, real intrigue.

As a calling card for his forthcoming debut album, Stay For Dinner, Candid Eyes is a tantalising glimpse of what happens when rock music engages its brain, when it calms down and finally realises that poise is actually just as important as power, that sometimes less really is more. You just have to know the right “less” to use.

Maybe it is the fact that unlike many of his peers who are out there trying to climb to the top of the fame mountain, who feel the need to shout the loudest to be noticed ahead of the competition, Oksendal comes from a more balanced place, one where family, a day job and the trappings of normality are just as important as the music that he is making. Maybe not trying to compete actually puts him way ahead of the game.

It may seem obvious, rock and roll was always built on simple ideas but somewhere along the way we seem to have lost track of such direct approaches and wandered off into a style where every space has to be filled up, every riff has to be overplayed, every beat followed by a flourish. Oksendal remembers that it is all about getting the fundamentals right, do that and you don’t have to work too hard with the detail. Simple, down the line, spacious rock ‘n’ roll will sell itself every time and this is as good as it gets in that department. Simple? Perhaps. Effective? Certainly. Groundbreaking? Without a shadow of a doubt.