Northern Stains is the result of a collaboration between experimental phenomenon Carlos Giffoni and Spunk/Fe-Mail members Maja Ratkje & Hild Tafjord. This trio finally met when Giffoni booked Fe-Mail to headline the sunday night of his genere defining Brooklyn based 3 day No Fun Festival in 2005. Early in 2006 Giffoni boarded a flight to Norway and Northern Stains was born in Spunk's Oslo studio.(more)

"'Out of Norway comes the most exciting noise LP I've heard to date. These two women romp thru stimulating noise compositions fresh and clean w/ a distinct Scandinavian frost. But there's always an undercurrent of warm embrace, sweet and masterful.' -- Thurston Moore. Already an incontestable figure of the Scandinavian music scene, Maja Ratkje follows the release of her stunning first solo album, Voice (Rune Grammaphone), with Fe-Mail.
Together with fellow Spunk-ette Hild Sofie Tafjord, Ratkje improvises with analogue electronic gear, samplers, voice, harmonica, and miscellaneous acoustic instruments to shape a more defined and delicate, if such a word can in any way define the realm in which Fe-mail evolve, series of soundscapes."