Bergen, Norway—a city of mist and melancholy—has quietly shaped some of the most emotionally charged voices in alternative music. Among them stands 8lanco, whose latest release, “HILLS N’ BACK”, is not just a collection of songs—it’s a personal upheaval rendered in sound. Released on May 16, 2025, the EP plays like a series of emotional postcards sent from the edge of self-awareness, pride, vulnerability, and recovery.
The record doesn’t follow trends. It isn’t structured around catchy formulas or built for virality. Instead, it unfolds like an inner monologue—shifting moods, confronting ghosts, retracing scars. Over five tracks, 8lanco merges hip-hop rhythms with dreamlike pop sensibilities, creating something that feels both immediate and timeless.
From the opening seconds of “REHAB”, there’s no doubt: this is confessional music. Gritty yet melodic, ironic yet honest, the line “Take all my exes and put them bitches into rehab” isn’t just a punchline—it’s a mask slipping. What sounds brash on the surface reveals layers of pain, denial, ego, and unresolved love. This is how 8lanco writes: with contradictions that feel too real to ignore.
Then comes “ACTRESS”—arguably one of the most emotionally potent songs on the project. It’s a quiet unraveling, tracing the hollow gestures we repeat in dying relationships, the performative love we keep clinging to long after the feeling fades. The track earned high praise in Norway, including a 5/6 score from Dagsavisen, and it’s easy to understand why. It doesn't beg to be liked; it demands to be felt.
Musically, HILLS N’ BACK lives in the liminal space between modern pop and emotional isolation. The production is sleek yet restrained, allowing 8lanco’s voice to hover, haunt, and echo. There’s a cinematic tension throughout, as if each beat were a heartbeat recorded in real time. This is music for headphones at night, for long walks home, for private breakdowns that never make it to Instagram stories.
While fans of The Kid LAROI, Joji, or Post Malone may find familiar echoes here, this project never leans on imitation. 8lanco's sound is uniquely his—minimalist, intimate, and emotionally surgical. He doesn’t oversing. He lets the silence speak.
The title, “HILLS N’ BACK”, captures more than a metaphor—it’s a mental map. It’s about emotional elevation, collapse, and the brutal journey of coming back to yourself. There’s no polished resolution here. The EP doesn’t tie things up with a bow. It just tells the truth.
And maybe that’s what makes it so rare.
With this release, 8lanco isn’t just asserting himself within Norway’s emerging scene—he’s rewriting what vulnerability in pop can sound like. No filter. No posture. Just raw, melodic honesty wrapped in five tracks that know exactly where to hit.
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