The Norwegian Band’s Slow Folk-Rock Duet, From the Studio to the Stage
Open Your Eyes moves slowly and carries a little sadness. Two people with very different voices sing it, and those voices still lock together. It is the new single from Thomas And The Angry Hearts, a folk-rock band from Lillestrøm, Norway. Southbound Records released it on 16 October 2026.
Thomas And The Angry Hearts open their live story with a slow song, and Open Your Eyes now sits in our playlist below. The band’s wider coverage lives on the band’s artist profile. PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks, brought Open Your Eyes to GetMusic.News. Play it first, then keep reading for the stages where the band takes it next.
Thomas And The Angry Hearts Recorded Open Your Eyes as a Slow Duet With Producer Ronni Le Tekrø
It is a song about the stretch of night after everyone else has gone to bed. The world finally goes quiet and everything feels right for a while. So you stay up to hold on to that feeling. Then the sun comes up, and yesterday is waiting for you.
The studio version is the one most listeners will hear first, so it is the place to start. Thomas Warhuus Ådland, the band’s singer and guitarist, wrote the words and music with Truls Fjeldvang. Ronni Le Tekrø and Kjartan Hesthagen produced it, the same pair behind the band’s self-titled debut album in 2025.
The connection with Le Tekrø began on a stage, not in a studio. The veteran Norwegian rock guitarist first saw the band when they auditioned for his summer festival. They were stepping in for another act. Later, they played him a handful of new songs before recording anything, and Open Your Eyes was one of them.
On the record, the song keeps its slow pace for three minutes and 22 seconds. Thomas, whose voice is warm and tuneful, shares the lead with Hilde Bergersen Ådland. Their two singing styles are clearly different, yet they sit together easily. Meanwhile, harmonies gather around a melody with an Irish lilt, the clearest sign of the band’s folk roots.
Open Your Eyes Puts Two Voices on One Slow Song, With a Full Band Behind Them
Two contrasting voices on a slow song is an old idea in folk music. It can also travel a long way. The Swell Season paired the Irish musician Glen Hansard with the Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová. Their song Falling Slowly, from the 2007 film Once, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Thomas And The Angry Hearts come at the same idea with a full band behind them.
That band is a five-piece. Hilde plays keys and melodica as well as singing. Around the two lead singers, the others play guitar, mandolin, bass and drums, and they add backing vocals too. As a result, the band has plenty of voices to call on whenever a song needs harmony.
Live, Open Your Eyes Turns Into the Quiet Moment of a Thomas And The Angry Hearts Show
Fans in the band’s home town heard Open Your Eyes almost a year before it became a single. At a hometown show at Martin’s in December 2025, the band had only just recorded it. It was also the moment the set slowed right down.
Hilde took the lead that night, with a clear voice that has an ache in it. A fiddle traced a sad line underneath her, and the band brought the song to a close with a soft fade on piano. In a loud and lively set, the audience gave the quiet song all the room it needed. Later on, the crowd sang a break back at the stage, and the whole band answered in harmony.
That night showed how the song can change shape live. The lead can move to Hilde, and a fiddle can join the band. The ending can be as soft as the room allows. In other words, the live version is less a copy of the record than a second take on the same feeling.
From a Hometown Bar to a Summer Festival in the Woods
The band also took its live show out to the countryside in the summer of 2026. On Saturday 8 August, Thomas And The Angry Hearts played the Granbar stage at 17.45 at the Audunbakken festival. It is a small rock festival in the woods near Disenå, about 70 kilometres from Oslo. Afterwards, the band shared a clip and praised the weekend’s music, atmosphere, natural setting and warmth.
Listeners who enjoy the way two singers share a song in Of Monsters and Men will hear something familiar here. The Icelandic band formed in Garðabær in 2010. Its two lead singers, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, wrote its first single, Little Talks. Thomas And The Angry Hearts work at a slower, folkier pace. Still, they build on the same idea of two singers telling one story.
Where to Catch Thomas And The Angry Hearts Next, From an Oslo Bar to a Toronto Club
The nearest date is close to home. The band returns to Herr Nilsen, a music bar in Oslo, on 5 December 2026. Its first show there sold out.
After that, the next confirmed date is across the Atlantic. Notes From The Crowd presents a series of genre showcases in Toronto. It has booked the band for its Folk/Rock Showcase at El Mocambo on Friday 25 June 2027.
El Mocambo is a club on Spadina Avenue that has hosted live music since 1948. Its most famous nights came in March 1977. The Rolling Stones played two surprise shows there under the name The Cockroaches. They recorded both nights, and the shows filled side three of the live album Love You Live.
The band has also said it is working with a UK-based manager on a small UK tour. That tour would come in the summer of 2027, and the dates are not confirmed yet.
From the GetMusic.News curator team: “Open Your Eyes sits fifth in our Indie Rock, Alt Rock, New Wave playlist. It follows a run of Big Thief songs. Both bands make a quiet song feel as if it is happening in the room with you. So the handover felt natural.”
Stream the Single and Follow Thomas And The Angry Hearts Before Their Next Live Date
Until then, the single is the best way in. Play the studio version first. Then picture Hilde taking the lead with a fiddle behind her, the way a hometown crowd first heard it.
Stream Open Your Eyes on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer or Tidal, or pick any other service. Follow the band on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and its official site.
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