discovered her thanks to akm's mention in the cassandra jenkins thread and wow i love her first two albums, especially and then she closed her eyes. i really love all the sax, it feels like music i've been wanting to hear forever.
dynamite is intriguingly strange but hasn't quite clicked for me yet, it's quite a left turn but i'm hoping it will open up to me. it feels sonically of a piece with from the choirgirl hotel, but pushed further into that realm in a way that tori never did. the contrast between her quiet, deadpan vocals and the kinda industrial/post-punk backing is fascinating
looking forward to checking out the rest of her output
― ufo, Thursday, 25 February 2021 12:29 (three years ago) link
The first two Stinas are def the most aligned with the Cassandra Jenkins record (which is completely great), insofar as they have more light and warmth in them than her later albums - the 'sound' of early spring, watery tentative sunshine, lengthening days etc. Really brisk and fresh.
The subsequent Stinas all feel really bound up with autumn/winter to me, to varying extents - all are great but it's a much chillier vibe overall. Dynamite is the one that leans most into 'encroaching gloom'. FTCH is a really interesting comparison and one that hadn't occurred to me before.
I disappeared down a bit of a This is Stina Nordenstam wormhole upthread but I do still think it's her strangest record in that it tries to make a big (tiny) crossover pop record out of a fuzzier version of the Dynamite sonic palette and ends up sounding like some kind of plaintive alien bulletin or... something.
― technopolis, Thursday, 25 February 2021 13:25 (three years ago) link
I think the World Is Saved is her best album. I wish she'd return to recording.
― akm, Thursday, 25 February 2021 16:28 (three years ago) link
God I love 'Dynamite' so much. Dig 'This Is' and 'People Are Strange' and 'The World is Saved' and the rest. But 'Dynamite' stands out, for me. Such an elemental sound--those crunchy guitars paired with the Reich-ian strings, and her voice... An album that hasn't aged a day.
I'm afraid she's going to go the way of Mark Hollis--silent until silenced.
― Soundslike, Thursday, 25 February 2021 23:34 (three years ago) link
I feel like there's a big jump in skill and quality between albums one and two - And She Closed Her Eyes really codifies some qualities that define her subsequent work despite the massive stylistic shifts.
Like, the voice is the same but from the first line of "When Debbie's Back From Texas" you can hear how much more aware and deliberate her use of it is - this Rickie Lee Jones in an iron lung quality, superficially blank and stripped (or evacuated) of affect, yet perversely affecting. A quality that extends to her suddenly incredibly sharp lyrical economy, conveying entire worlds and personas with the smallest number of words possible.
"From Cayman Islands With Love" from The World Is Saved is a great example of this:
Half a day behind and miles awayI'm on a beachThe only one around I know who can'tEnjoy the heatI bought the postcardNow I have to write the wordsI left the countryThere's a chance you may have heardGrand Cayman is greatOf course it isWeather like thisLiving is greatOf course it isWhat else did you thinkWhat else did you thinkI said I want a man and not a boyYou left the roomThe Caribbean sun so leaves me coldYou never doI want to see youEven want to see you bleedI can't believe I paid for thisThere's nothing here I needGrand Cayman is greatOf course it isWeather like this?Living is greatOf course it isWhat else did you thinkWhat else did you think
... The deliberateness emptiness of "weather like this?"... I love it.
― Tim F, Friday, 26 February 2021 00:00 (three years ago) link
... That said, the last two tracks of Memories of a Colour are the best on the album, so if you listen to the first albums back to back it's like Stina is gearing herself up.
― Tim F, Friday, 26 February 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
I bought "And She Closed Her Eyes" in 1994 when I was in high school - I think I bought "Park Life" (!) in the same haul. Mark Radcliffe had been playing "Little Star" every night on his Radio 1 late show.
Anyway, it's just the most beautiful record - I think it might be favourite ever album, the only album I've never gotten bored of listening to. I used to put in on with "Five Lives Left".
I can't believe The World is Saved was released 16 years ago. And look at idiot me above, thinking ten years was a long time.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 26 February 2021 00:33 (three years ago) link
This Is is getting a vinyl reissue in June: https://www.roughtrade.com/en-us/product/stina-nordenstam/this-is-stina-nordenstam
Has she gone completely reclusive? Retired? Does anyone know?
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 10 May 2024 13:50 (one month ago) link
Lol this revive is going to get Tim F's hopes up once again ;_;
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 10 May 2024 13:55 (one month ago) link
This thread contains evidence of me being startled at the passage of time in general terms at about the time The World Is Saved was released.
It’s been almost 20 years since then.
― Tim F, Friday, 10 May 2024 14:50 (one month ago) link