An “extreme sports, outdoors school” in Norway is perhaps the last place you’d expect to find Inge Chiles, who plays as Ings, Seattle’s purveyor of what she’s termed “lullaby rock,” which is also the title of her debut album from last year. (Think early, joyfully lovely Feist and you’ll get close.) But after high school Chiles headed to Norway for just such a school, where she also found the culture of hygge—the Scandinavian word for something resembling cozy, mindful fellowship.

So this winter, she decided to create an event centered around hygge in the Seattle winter. She enlisted local folk mainstay Tomo Nakayama—“because Tomo’s voice sounds like an angel”—and he enlisted Sophia Duccini, who also makes lovely, quiet music. 

So what does a hygge party look like? You’ll arrive at Fremont Abbey in a sweater. You can bring knitting, or maybe something to draw on. There’ll be coffee and tea and hot chocolate. There’ll be a candle swap (you get a stranger’s candle—a stranger gets your candle). Chiles will play her mellowest songs, as well as lullabies and folk songs from Sweden and Norway. “I’m also gonna throw in an 800-year-old medieval tune. It’s from a region that’s now Southern France, but I just love it.”

I'm not the biggest fan of the U.S.’s latching onto hygge. (Here, it often feels like a tactic to sell cashmere socks.) But three artists making music of unabashed beauty in the winter by candlelight—with, sure, some hot chocolate and knitting—feels undeniably good.  

Hygge Party
Jan 23, Fremont Abbey, $10–$15