Welcome to the New Helvetica thread!

We are quite a small, landlocked and mountainous country neighbouring Ennea and Freedonia, formed around 800 years ago following the abdication of King Malcolm. Our capital is Neugrossstadt, and most of our larger settlements are located along the River Dhine.

We welcomed some early explorers from the Northern Hemisphere many centuries ago, and hence Deandrian and Zanmatonese are among our official languages. We have 4 official languages in fact, the others being of course Helvetian and Romantican spoken by some of our mountain dwellers.

We began a full census 2 years ago and to date have had 673,441 responses. However we believe the population is in fact around 9 million. We welcome visitors, but we kindly ask that you leave your sense of time in the airport lockers.

Those of us who are not city dwellers look after our most important animal, the kügrin. Their milk and cheese are aromatic and creamy, and considered some of the finest in the Buzzworld. We recently passed a referendum requiring that all kügrin are clothed in the winter.

To date we have entered around 20 Buzzjack song contests, though none of them before the deadline as we prefer to work at our own pace.‘we are still considering how best to get our delegation to Jadakissnia for BJSC #179.

Worldvision VIII

E M E L - Holm

Emel Mathlouthi is a Tunisian singer songwriter. She rose to fame in 2011 with her protest song “Kelmti Hora (My Word Is Free) which went viral during the Arab Spring. She performed it at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 2015.

However the song that we have entered is a beautiful acoustic ballad, recorded during lockdown in 2020 when she was back in her family home in Tunis.

English lyrics:

If I could close my eyes and the dreams take me by the hand, I would rise and fly in a new sky and forget my sorrows

If I could travel in my imagination, I would build palaces and nights where love and my hopes can grow and we will erase the pain

A world in which you see people whose features
are clouded by oppression, misery and suffering
from a bitter reality that destroys everything we build

A world where you see rising walls of tyranny that crushes in us dreams and dreams
And reign darkness and greed in all hearts

We were delighted to come 7th in the first competition we have entered on time - Worldvision VIII representing Tunisia.

BJSC 186: Alana Henderson - Wax & Wane

Alana Henderson is an Irish singer songwriter and cellist who has toured with Hozier. Her debut EP, also called “Wax & Wane” was released in 2013. The above is a lovely live version of the track which gives it even a bit more intimacy and character.

Understated acoustic material with thoughtful and beautiful songwriting and lyrics is the lane we are occupying in New Helvetica at the moment. We hope that some other countries can find a place for this in their hearts amid the sea of electronica.

Welcome to the contest proper!

Welcome and thank you for sharing such a striking and standout entry on your first full contest. I'm in the other semi-final so can't back it but hopefully the storytelling here will take you through.

Alana's voice is so striking too.

5 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Welcome and thank you for sharing such a striking and standout entry on your first full contest. I'm in the other semi-final so can't back it but hopefully the storytelling here will take you through.

Alana's voice is so striking too.

Thank you - that means a lot! Not expecting to qualify - I feel like the new one in the class who has turned up in the wrong uniform.

BJSC186:

Alana Henderson - Wax & Wane

Semifinal - 17th (56 points)

Final - 13th (203 points)

Final votes given:

18 Skall - Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore - Perpetual Adoration

15 Lentyll - Man/Woman/Chainsaw - Nosedive

13 Jadakissnia - Ok Goodnight - Spiral

12 Elëdan - Paul Jebanasam - search another 3Hφ˙ = lose you i), place i=0 doubt I V (φ) am ∝ exp( √ 16π to meet you again pm² P φ

11 Cheiron - Chibi Ichigo - Paranoia

10 Danæviia - Thy Catafalque - A Gyönyörű Álmok Ezután Jönnek

9 Sovarasma - Von Quar - Kraft / Idiot

8 Land of DW - Juhlat - Aallonmurtaja

7 Terra Avium - Future Islands - One Day

6 Fljótavík - Rare DM - Honey

5 Neliönoir - IKARVS - explozja

4 A-Konohagakure - んoon - SEE YA

3 Kathaldazia - yaego, jsn & Tamashī - Life*

2 République d'Áskorza - YAKAYA - PRYPYNDA

1 Bronzil - Baby Jane - Midnight Highway

Votes received (23):

18 Aelandor

15 Fljótavík

15 Kathaldazia

13 FSR Rontvia

13 The Spodic Empire

13 Séyetana

13 Trifoski

12 Numayania

11 Persephonia

10 A-KONOHAGURE

10 Lotunia

9 Bronzil

7 Cumulonimbia

6 FARC

6 Ennea

6 Altyr Muuniliist

5 Deandria

5 Jupiterdonia

5 New Lexico

4 Terra Avium

4 Dalisska

2 Ajanaeda

1 Jadakissnia

Lovely to have received almost every possible score and especially 7 podiums! ❤️

BJSC 187: Serafina Steer - Night Before Mutiny

While it isn’t in our nature to copy others’ ideas, the NHTV team were inspired by Skall’s latest winner by Julianna Barwick to check out some folk singers who played the harp. We came across this extraordinary piece by London musician Serafina Steer. She is a long time collaborator with Jarvis Cocker who produced this track for her album “The Moths Are Real”.

It’s an interesting lyrical story and the mutiny is implicit rather than explicit. The track starts with a harp solo and ends in a glistening blend of instrumental sounds and waves. The video is quite cool too, filming synchronised swimmers at a lido. The visuals don’t have anything to do with the lyrics but do work rather beautifully.

This is a lovely entry Julian, really like it <3

Hopefully it will stand out and do well for you again

BJSC 187:

Serafina Steer - Night Before Mutiny

Semifinal - 19th (56 points)

Final - 36th (125 points)

Votes given:

18 FSR Rontvia // HENGE - Mushroom One

15 Fljótavík // Cain Culto - a plague, a pestilence

13 Séyetana // Portraits Of Tracy - Caught In A Jam

12 Zanmatony // Black Mighty Orchestra - Ocean Beach (Cybophonia Cinematic Remix)

11 Herbilore // Boys Go To Jupiter - Lovers Always Lose

10 Danæviia // Liminal - The Crop

9 The Spodic Empire // waist - bravado

8 Elëdan // Roly Porter - An Open Door

7 Trifoski // MEMORIALS - Dropped Down The Well

6 Lentyll // RAY - MOD

5 Jadakissnia // tlen - patnik

4 Kathaldazia // Dev Lemons - eat the pavement

3 Terra Avium // The Haunted Youth - falling to pieces

2 Skall // Domenique Dumont - Visages Visages

1 Deandria // Collide - Freak Like Me

Votes received (20):

18 Fljótavik

13 Sovarasma

13 The Spodic Empire

12 Jadakissnia

12 A-Konohagakure

10 Aelandor

9 Deandria

8 Pagasa

5 Neliönoir

4 Séyetana

3 Terra Avium

3 Bronzil

3 FSR Rontvia

3 Trifoski

3 Persephonia

2 Kathaldazia

1 Skall

1 Zephyra Continuum

1 Lentyll

1 Ennea

In #187, like in #186, we just did enough to clear the semifinal, in fact scoring exactly the same number of points (56). However this time our final result of 36th / 42 was in line with what you might expect from a low qualifier, whereas in #186 the early expectations were smashed. Interestingly we only had slightly fewer final voters this time but as you can see suffered from low score syndrome. We suspect there was a lot of “we appreciate this more than we love it”. However the low scores are still very lovely to receive even if they don’t move the dial on the scoreboard much, so thank you everyone!

Our impression so far is that BJSC tends to favour upbeat numbers with advanced production, on both the pop and alt sides. Our goal will therefore continue to be to feature striking songs that mainly use traditional instruments.

BJSC #188

Lankum - Ghost Town

From the band:

“It’s an honour to be releasing a version of this iconic tune, and it feels eerily relevant to be referencing yet again themes of urban decay, economic hardship and working class frustration.”

I know the natural instinct is to groan when finding that someone has covered an untouchable classic, so here’s how we got here.

I was searching for more material that fits New Helvetica’s preference for acoustic folk. At the same time I thought and the bosses agreed that it might be worth finding something darker for a contest in Séyetana, especially given the added involvement of Neliönoir. I had not come across Lankum before and found their work totally independently of any prior discoveries on this forum. Initially we settled on the harrowing “Go Dig My Grave”, but found that @Chez Wombat had used it in Unlnown Pleasaures as well as having sent “The New York Trader” to BJSC, before Julian or New Helvetica were entering the contests.

I found that Lankum’s only release since the 2023 “False Lankum” album seemed to be this cover, which was released as a stand alone single in 2025. My first reaction was of course that a cover wasn’t going to cut it, but I listened and was truly blown away. I love the care and attention they give to every line of the lyrics, the suspense, the blend of folk and electronic sounds and the way they are true to the spirit of the original while refreshing it for the current world. The other thing to bear in mind is that “covers” are what Lankum do; it’s just that usually they’re reimagining old folk standards instead of a classic hit.

This is the first time that New Helvetica has approved the use of non acoustic electronic sounds, but we feel this is still true enough to our ethos and we hope you’ll agree that the effects are really worth it. We recommend that you use the video version to listen, which is even available within the Spotify playlist.

Oh and we won’t spoil what happens in the second half, but we recommend you fasten your seatbelt. 💺