MorMor: 5 songs that changed my life
From folk to industrial rock, blues to 2-step, the Toronto singer has a wide range of influences
From the moment MorMor's now distinct falsetto, blurred-out production and searing lyricism radiated from his 2018 breakout hit, "Heaven's Only Wishful," the Toronto crooner cemented his position as an artist to watch. CBC Music even named him one of 10 artists who ruled 2018.
Five years later, MorMor, a.k.a. Seth Nyquist, remains devoted to writing wistful and emotive songs that expose the darkest parts of his psyche. It's this unbridled vulnerability that makes him so compelling. His 2022 album, Semblance, was among our favourites of the year, and it sees him exploring "deep-seated insecurity, fears of inadequacy, ruminating over lost love — all the things that haunt us late at night."
He writes, performs and produces most of his music completely on his own. From indie pop to shoegaze to neo-soul, MorMor's sound is expansive and rife with influences. Like many people, Nyquist was pointed in the direction of the music that would soundtrack his life by an older relative, and in his case it was his eldest cousin who introduced him to Portishead's Dummy. There are echoes of that album's sonic sparseness and emotional openness throughout Nyquist's music.
In a recent visit with CBC Music, Nyquist shared the music that has shaped him — the songs he plays in his most intimate, personal moments — by the artists who inspire him, including Portishead, Nina Simone, Björk and more.
'Roads,' Portishead
"The stripped down-ness and the bareness of the record really stood out to me and I really fell in love with that sound. Beth Gibbons' lyrics and her voice are really haunting, so that's an impactful song for me."
'NYC,' Burial
"Usually when I touch down [in New York], especially if it's an evening flight, it's one of the first songs I play. There's a lot of melancholic and introspective feeling in his music, so that's something that I take away because it matches my mood often."
'I'm the Sky,' Norma Tanega
"'I'm the Sky' is truly a special song, it's something that I put on often, and when I do, I have to have it on repeat because that chorus is truly infectious."
'Everything Must Change,' Nina Simone
"I prefer her version to Quincy Jones' original. I feel like any time she's covering something she just claims it as her own."
'Army of Me,' Björk
"She's such an inspiration because she really has done it on her own terms for so long."