You think of rappers and more often than not you think of swagger; a certain bravado and spectacle that oozes confidence and self-belief both in their personalities and their music. Rarely do you encounter someone who was a “complete nerd”, cripplingly shy and grew up in a nature-immersed town in Norway whilst going to Christian summer camp each year. However, this is one of many reasons that makes 24 year-old Pen Gutt such an original an artist.

As a result of an upbringing atypical to most rappers, Pen Gutt’s music is similarly atypical – existing in its own unique world in terms of tone, groove, flow and production. This Norwegian language music is even something the creator struggles to define himself. “I usually say it's a mixture of rap and folk music,” he says. “But the thing about genres is that as an artist I find it claustrophobic to work in a set of rules.”

The project combines the musical tastes of Pen Gutt along with his producer Samkopf, - “everything from Death Grips to Aphex Twin to 1950 Scandinavian musicals to Jpegmafia to Charlotte dos Santos” - and also owes a great deal to the Japenese anime series “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. Whilst you’ll need to speak Norwegian to understand the lyrics, they come from a period of real soul searching and when the character of Pen Gutt was created. “In my subconscious I think I had the idea of the whole album before I even started making it,” he says. “I’ve been a musician, model, actor and visual body performer and Pen Gutt is a character combined of all these professions and hobbies I've had until now. That's the reason why I really love music, because I get to combine everything I already love, and morph it into one project. The character is based on my experiences, but put in another universe. The same concepts and natural laws don’t apply to this universe. I like over-exaggerating situations and thoughts to make you feel something, rather than having it to be realistic.”

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Pen Gutt

DAZED: Pen Gutt is the Norwegian ‘pretty boy’ making insomnia rap

Hold deg i varmen

valentin

sykle uten hender

øya lukket

undercover

dazed & confuzed

levende begravet

pen gutt

demoner

peters evangelium

hold deg i varmen

bare dans

forkynneren 3:1-8

The album is also an exploration of death that came from Pen Gutt’s delve into philosophy. Reading works such as “Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Fear of Death”. This concept has been weaved into the album he says. “To stare at the sun simply means to face death head on and let your fears become a part of you. You realise that you can't escape death, but you can learn to live side by side with it.” However, whilst philosophy and long hours spent thinking about the meaning of life have informed this album, so to has the much more physical experience of death in his life. “Late last year I lost somebody really close, and it hit me like a train. I had never in my life experienced this much pain,” he says. And when he did begin to return to normal he found that “The darkness had become a part of me.”

Sykle Uten Hender

A “sad tumblr girl” aesthetic with an indie sound to match, Pen Gutt shares the DIY visuals for his track 

Pen Gutt – or ​“pretty boy” as it translates in his native Norwegian – is a silky smooth musician with a folky edge. Having tried his hand at modelling, acting and visual body performance, his latest creative foray is into the wonky world of leftfield rap.

An amalgamation of his Scandi upbringing, deep dive into philosophy books and the Japanese anime series 

, the 24-year-old coos melodic bars in his mother’s tongue about ​“self discovery, life, death, philosophy and love”. As for the beat, expect infectious grooves and hazy electronic riffs.

The rising rapper will be releasing a 13-track album later this year, but for now, check out the visuals for his banger 

. A homespun video shot purely using Apple’s Photo Booth heart filter, watch Pen Gutt and a bunch of his mates grooving around Oslo. Then, once you’ve indulged in pure 2014 Facebook nostalgia, get the 100% scoop on this off-the-wall musician.

Bare Dans

 is the soundtrack, from the Norwegian hip-hop rapper of the same name, for an upcoming movie directed by Håvard Sandvik

Undercover

23 year old Norwegian artist Pen Gutt debuts today with his first release ‘Independent’, premiered via 

. Pen Gutt’s debut release on Luft Recordings and Terrible Records is another signifier of the wealth of homegrown talent emerging from Norwegian shores - with ‘Independent’ following the likes of SASSY 009 and Sigrid in making waves on the global stage.

‘Independent’ was recorded last summer, shortly after Pen Gutt returned from a year in Denmark - “I had a lot to say, so everything just poured out,” he told The FADER. Explaining the joyful celebratory feeling bounce behind the chorus, he said, “The hook came from that I wanted to make it cool to say that you're independent, that you don’t need anybody but yourself, and it really doesn’t matter if you got a boss or not. You’re the one in charge.” In the true spirit of independence, the typically vibrant accompanying video was fully self-directed by Pen Gutt, too.

Pen Gutt

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