Susanne Sundfør - "Ten Love Songs"

Seen quite a bit of discussion about this in various threads but I think it deserves one of its own because it is quickly becoming one of my favourites of the year.

Every time I try to describe this album to people I keep ending up on variations of "goth Abba." The songwriting is really melodic and hook-driven but the production is a mix of industrial disco and lush orchestral arrangements. I'm reminded of Kleerup and Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat" and the first Goldfrapp album as much as Kraftwerk and Front 242 in the arrangements. I love Sundfør's voice too - its really versatile, going from intimidating and stern on songs like "Delirious" and then being soft and vulnerable on "Slowly", and the way she works with (if not against) the lyrics reminds me of Curve's Toni Halliday or Cardigans' Nina Persson before she started to sound like a country artist. It's basically an expensive-sounding grungey Italo disco album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSB_PcBW3k

Yeah, this album is fantastic. Only listened to it a couple of times but it's already one of my favourite albums of the year.

Memorial is the only song I wasn't totally sold on. Not sure if she quite pulls off what she was going for.

this is so good

I no longer care if Robyn puts out another album, or if Bertine Zetlitz's new one turns out to be crap, because this exists.

"Memorial" is like "The Winner Takes It All" raised to unbearably painful levels. Huge punch in the gut. Song of the year, except when it's "Accelerate".

Oh, and "Slowly". Oh my god, "Slowly".

Fade Away could be song of the year. Was not sure if Memorial needed to be that long at first but now I am... the way she sings the chorus at the end gives me shivers.

Have had Fade Away in my head for weeks. This pushes so many of my buttons - John Carpenter vibe of Delirious, Valerie Dore Italo balladry on Slowly, love the production, so many hooks - current favourite album for sure.

this album is absolutely amazing
the microwave ping halfway through fade away is a personal highlight

"insects" doesn't get enough love though it is the clear standout and currently my song of the year

seeing her in may, should be amazing

I was sceptical about all this at first, but it really is a fantastic album, so lush and detailed. "Kamikaze" -> "Memorial" -> "Delirious" -> "Slowly" is a perfect sequence.

Is there much writing about this album? I recall a short but rapturous review in the Grauniad but I'd be interested in reading more reviews if they're around

There's a review list on wiki and some more out there.. not sure about the tumblr et al suspects.. I think some ilxors should do their part.

The "ABBA w/ heavy eyeliner" quicktake writes itself. The Guardian, Mojo (print edn), Uncut, The Quietus, The 405, Music OMH have had their say.

Yeah I checked metacritic and there were only 6 reviews (89% though so all very +ve)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iItgZgbw1gI

There's a review list on wiki and some more out there.. not sure about the tumblr et al suspects.. I think some ilxors should do their part.

― abcfsk, Wednesday, 8 April 2015 23:54 (Yesterday) Permalink

believe me, I would love to be able to

also not sure what you mean about "the tumblr et al suspects" but w/e

I just mean there are some long form writers on tumblr and I don't know if there's any SS stuff of note up.

the jukebox wrote on "delirious" if that counts: http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=15080

Album of the year for me, album of the past couple years probably. This kind of ambition is rare and actually pulling it off is even more rare.

I would love to see some longform writing on this too, I thought there was a Pitchfork review but I can't find it so I must have dreamed it.

Pitchfork, and lots of other review sites, have barely made mention of her.

Who do we ultimately have to blame for so many Scandinavian pop singers sounding so *diffident* these days? A lot of these would be great songs but that mopey wet delivery just kills them.

this album must be getting written about somewhere--it's currently rateyourmusic's #9 album of 2015

A lot of these would be great songs but that mopey wet delivery just kills them.

I could not disagree more strongly.

Yeah that's the most wrong thing ever written on ilxor.

Greatest vocalist among scando pop stars atm by far.

you mean Lykke Li? i agree

great record

Honestly, this is one of my favourite albums ever.

The quiet songs are weaker here imo

I listened to this again and I think diffident was the wrong word, but she shares with Lykke Li this very widescreen croon that makes these songs feel so much less intimate and human than they should, it sweeps but it leaves me completely cold. It's the same thing that puts me off Lana Del Rey.

But that's equally wrong, she has a very specific delivery, a raw, human virtuosity and balls-out-ness more similar to early kate bush than someone like lykke li.

Florence sprung to mind most on my couple of listens so far

Her higher register is much more enjoyable, but really a "raw, human virtuosity and balls-out-ness" is the exact opposite of what I hear. I hear broad brush strokes, whereas with Kate I hang on every word.

Florence is particularly harsh though.

I kind of agree with Matt (I wouldn't say mopey, but a little detached?) but it honestly doesn't bother me at all. I love Lana, too. I think both Lana and Susanne do heroic scale music and while they both keep up vocally it's maybe difficult to get intense and intimate as well, idk. We can't all be Kate Bush.

I like Lana and can kind of hear similarities on some of the slower songs but I think the range, control and ability to sell a line put her much closer to Agnetha Faltskog territory, which is as about as high as praise gets imo. I hear something new in her delivery almost every time I listen to the album.

It's a phenomenal record and probably one of my two or three favourites this decade.

As a fan of Lykke Li, this is miles better both in terms of ~songcraft~ and delivery. On something like "Slowly" Lykke Li would sound strained and contrived and reaching for emotion, whereas Sundfør sounds much rawer, more honest and open. I think this album really works because there's a sense of committed earnestness to the performance of the songs, and while I can see how that element of theatricality could be off-putting, the mix of grandiosity and vulnerability is what holds this album together and makes it so great.

currently so obsessed with "kamikaze"

A-HA-A

good song but i hate it when she prounounce the word as "kamika-tsee"

I wrote the five-star Guardian review. Had never heard her before, and wasn't expecting much. But it just blew me away. It seemed so fantastically ambitious in its formalism: there's a real streak of classisism in it, but equally it doesn't just dwell on cliches. Brilliant record.

Still caning this...quite surprised at its longevity, the only song I'm getting fed up of is "Accelerate".

the classical/pop tug of war reminds me of seili by jenni vartiainen

this left me cold a month or so ago - it's

this left me cold a month or so ago - it's quite an edifice - but really clicked today.

It's heartstoppingly good
Can't wait to see her next month

Had a chance to listen to it start to finish on a road trip today. Felt almost symphonic, the way the moods and rhythms ebbed and flowed.

Kind of drops off for me after "Memorial," at least right now

this record rules

it is dissolving my hangover rn

Well yeah Memorial is the best song

I kind of think she's achieved peak ESL-charm on this, it opens my ears without alienating it, I wanna start using all her weird expressions

Well yeah Memorial is the best song

otm

wanna write a book about "slowly"

Wow, Fade Away. This is an amazing song.

http://www.roughtradenyc.com/event/816951-susanne-sundf-r-brooklyn

I kind of think she's achieved peak ESL-charm on this, it opens my ears without alienating it, I wanna start using all her weird expressions

i was baffled at this but okay having gone to look at it i didn't realise she was singing e.g. "done with intent without repent"

i listened through her back-catalogue today while doing the housework and i was surprised to find that as well as two records of broadly similar intent with i guess more invested in synthiness and less in poppiness, there was a double-album digital-synth ambient record and a piano-and-vocals record sounding like regina spektor with an answer song to 'hallelujah'

weird

The latter (her debut s/t) has several really, really catchy songs. The production is so basic I think I prefer the 'Take One' stripped version of the album.

This album just keeps on giving, I don't think I've gone two days without blasting it since I got hold of it.

iirc spotify only had the 'take one' version

i have been going back to 'the silicone veil'. i am tending towards being a fan, though, in general, of everything

wondering how i could ever have not been utterly besotted with this album

the mad organ solo on "accelerate" >>>>>>>

and i love how "fade away " seems to nod to t-swift's "style" - obv unintentional but exactly the same feeling

Yeah the image of them together pops up everytime I listen to that song.

tremendous live show, except the part where the record wasn't available for sale. even rough trade (who was hosting) didn't have it in stock, which strikes me as an oversight

and i love how "fade away " seems to nod to t-swift's "style" - obv unintentional but exactly the same feeling

― lex pretend, Monday, 18 May 2015 10:14 (5 days ago)

Glad somebody else said this; I was half-convinced any resemblance I heard was merely due to her using the word "style" in the lyrics.

"Accelerate" into "Fade Away" is wonderful; together they seem to encapsulate so much Scando-pop history. Don't quite get the "goth ABBA" tag insomuch as my brain autocompletes that as Propaganda.

Felt it was a half weak live show saved by the strength of the material, which was soooo strong. She may be my favourite melody writer

I think this is my favourite album of the decade so far.

This album is still incredible. Got it on vinyl this week and it is quite something. Comes with a massive poster and the the fourth side of the record is etched.

wheeeeeeee tickets bought for koko in october
excited

Just got around to checking this out: this absolutely, completely and totally rules!

"Kamikaze" -> "Memorial" -> "Delirious" -> "Slowly" is a perfect sequence.

― courtney barnett formula (seandalai), Wednesday, April 8, 2015 11:11 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTFM!

'Memorial' surely must be one of the tracks of the year?

You can watch her show from the Øya festival here http://www.aftenposten.no/webtv/#!/video/101657/oeya-2015-susanne-sundfoers-storslagne-avslutning

That's cool, thanks!

Holy crap this record

ikr?!

long time since I've heard a record do this much and pull it all off. I am floored.

yeah i'm so smitten with this album

It's a great record. One of the best of the year, if not the best.

Easily my album of the year. Such an incredible album.

Yep, still the best.

Holy crap this record

― Evan R, Monday, September 28, 2015 7:25 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

URL aside, good interview:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/15/susanne-sundfor-ten-love-songs-made-me-feel-naked

I'm still getting 'Delirious' and 'Kamikaze' popping up in my head randomly. I'm not sure that I can call this my favourite album of the year just yet, but it's definitely a contender. If I don't see this place somewhere in the EOY poll I'll be sorely disappointed.

I have no doubt that it will place, only question is where. Top 20 wouldn't surprise me.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the top five.

Yeah, Top 20 sounds realistic to me at the moment. If it goes Top 5 I'll immediately forgive ILX on the spot for ensuring that Future Islands placed last year.

I think everyone who hears this album more than once will probably realise it's their favourite of the year. It's so obviously brilliant but it's a real grower too, every time I play it I love it more and more.

Unless I've missed something, this is the first video for the album. Cool black & whiteness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4jT4zcdHg

Oh NSFW btw

There was the Fade Away video.

Oh cool, I've never watched that.

This album has really won me over. Soundtrack song for Oblivion worth checking out too

The MVs for this album have been pretty lo/fi compared to the cinematic style of earlier videos.

Traveling all the way down from Glasgow to see her in Leeds next week, super excited.

wait a sec pitchfork are hosting her music video on their YT channel but still won't review her record?

Traveling all the way down from Glasgow to see her in Leeds next week, super excited.

You are the third person from Glasgow I've heard reveal such plans and I am so very very jealous.

This is now my second favourite album ever by the way.

She's missed a trick not playing Glasgow eh.

What's your first?

Silent Shout

I wonder if there was any sense of expected traction behind this. The lack of live dates and minimal press suggests not.

still look forward to really digging this record

saw her play Roskilde Festival, was a bit disappointed, she seemed a bit shy and was as if it never really got going, lots of build-up but not so much payoff

but maybe I just went in with completely wrong expectations bcz was looking for something kind of Robyn-partyish... also sound wasn't great... also was 2 in the afternooon or something...

Impeccable taste xp

Am not interested in any reports of her being underwhelming live btw, fully expect her to be flat out amazing.

finally checking out The Silicone Veil and it sounds immense so far

Festival shows are the worst possible way to judge an artist's live abilities.

I mean this as a compliment: "Memorial" strikes me as "MacArthur Park" for the 21st century.

Not sure it's fair to disregard festival concerts as a whole, have been to many fantastic festival shows and sometimes find myself wishing a club concert was a festival one (if for instance crowd is a bit dead)

But sure Sundfør would have been better in other surroundings

I guess the question is what is the ultimate live setup. When she started out it was just her and the piano. This album dictates something different. I thought she was good at Øya with a big old band and pop antics, she's gotten a lot better at than than the shy earlier performances I think. There's something to be said for a claustrophobic, miminalist setting for parts of her discography, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGcC0ev7Gcs

Nighttime or indoors probably a prerequisite anyways.

This is now my second favourite album ever by the way.

― boxedjoy, Wednesday, October 21, 2015 8:39 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ This surely be one of the only times I've read a statement such as this about a recently released record that doesn't sound like hyperbole. I can totally understand why this would become an instant all-time favourite for many, and not many records achieve that feat. It's definitely one of the best of the decade so far.

When 'Delirious' kicks in after 'Memorial' = genius piece of sequencing.

Yeah, I'd have no problem putting this in my top 20 albums ever at this point. I just start thinking about it and I need to put it on instantly. Everything about it is so perfect.

What I really want to know is, what is Boxedjoy's first favourite album of all time.

What I really want to know is, what is Boxedjoy's first favourite album of all time.

iirc it's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em

I can see that.

i'll put money on it being silent shout

I could see it being No Way Down by Air France.

What I really want to know is, what is Boxedjoy's first favourite album of all time.
― Kitchen Person, Saturday, 24 October 2015 02:30 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Read the thread ;) But yeah, I'd probably find a spot for this in an all time top 20 right now. Was also never really much doubt that it would be my album of the year from the 2nd or 3rd time I gave it a spin. It inhabits my brain daily.

"No Way Down" is a good guess, to be fair xp

Oh yeah, sorry I totally missed that. I was about to take up that bet with dynamicinterface and everything.

Silent Shout is a fine choice, but right now I think Ten Love Songs is better record.

I am flabbergasted by this thread. I don't get the love for this album at all. To me it seems average mainstream contemporary shite. People why don't you listen to the new Chills album which is phantastic. this one is a waste of time. her voice is so uninteresting. I won't convince anyone here, i know but i had to write this.

I love how much you actually hate music and continue year after year to pretend you don't on some sketchy technicality.

If tracks like 'Memorial' are average mainstream contemporary shite, then I need to start listening to more average mainstream contemporary shite!

I really don't get anyone using "mainstream" and "contemporary" as signifiers of negative value in 2015 tbh

Like I can understand finding this an intimidating edifice or her voice affected or whatever but I think "oh this sounds like pop music" is not only an inaccurate criticism of this album but an unworthy criticism of any music as a whole

unless ~feelings~ are mainstream and passé in which case fuck humanity forever tbh would rather feel alive with this album and Taylor Swift and whatever

I've listened to this album so much I don't really want to hear it anymore - can't remember the last time this happened to me. Usually I move on to the next thing way before burnout, even with albums I really like.

same, I overplayed it and I don't want to listen to it for a while. But it'll still probably be my number one record this year, nothing else I've liked has really come close in ambition and audacity.

So irritated with myself. I committed to going to another show in Tues, forgetting it was SS at Koko, and I've still not seen her. Told the publicist for the other act that I was missing the maker of the album of the year, so her act really better be very good indeed. I don't think she wanted to be told that.

you're not going?? i'd JUST decided to opt for susanne over lady leshurr but i don't think i know anyone irl who loves her...

I love how much you actually hate music and continue year after year to pretend you don't on some sketchy technicality.

e.g. the latest albums by destroyer, julia holter, the apartments (my fave this year), the chills, fraser anderson, d'angelo, ghostpoet, laura marling, real estate, ryan adams, sufjan stevens etc. etc.

i like country and rap music

I only like music on TV

I'm still nowhere near bored of this album, and don't really expect to be tired of it in the near future at least. Granted, I don't seem to be hammering it as hard as some others are, which I guess has helped to retain its freshness.

Show last night was compelling, or what I caught of it was. (What kind of hick, kale-eating, muesli-bothering town forces venues to wind up their gigs by 9.50pm sharp?) Thankfully I got there in time to hear "Fade Away".

Sound was great, her backing band is excellent, and the whole presentation was spot on. I'm still not completely sold on the album but this sure helped.

SO AMAZING

:(

koko remains the worst gig venue in london though

On the bright side, Lex, you weren't having to watch a sub-Mumfords banjo band instead.

:(((((((

i imagine you spent the gig looking desperately for a window to jump through so you could run to koko

once i was in a spot where i could see more than the top of susanne's head it was pretty wonderful... "insects" live was probably the most whoa moment

Genuinely wish I understood what it is about this album that has people in such raptures, gonna give it another go today.

unbelievable that "delirious" hasn't been a single yet

apparently radio refuse to touch her with a bargepole, which makes all too much sense to me and just makes me wonder how, in 2015, is radio still permitted to be such an important gatekeeper

xp it took me a few listens (as evidenced by my first posts itt, lol) - it's very overwhelming initially but once my brain began to make sense of it there was no going back

i've finally gone back to the rest of her discography, you can definitely see the evolution of her sound building up towards this from relatively straightforward beginnings

As someone who loves this album but has not heard anything else she's done, is it worth checking out the earlier albums?

(As I thought there was quite a difference between this one and her previous output)

Yes it\s worth it

She performed an earlier piano version of Memorial more than four(!) years ago on this little live thing (and she says she 'finished' the song that morning)

4:20 in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_EN83Fu12o

I decided to take the advice I've been giving people wrt the Miguel album (ie start at track four and then see if it works for you). Decided to start this one at Fade Away and it feels like a different album without the blustery first couple of songs putting me in the wrong mood.

Would I like this? (Not asked that in ages.)

I would think so.

I like "Accelerate," so I'm dipping in.

Funny, this album and the Miguel album are jostling for similar placement toward the top of my year-end list, and the two albums are linked in my mind in a vague way I can't quite explain yet. Maybe it's just b/c they each have a similar confidence/openness, and b/c they do cycle through so many moods, but I think it's something more than that, too

I'm getting the same feeling seeing it up there next to Dawn Richard and Angel Haze; I think I'll always gravitate towards formally ambitious, emotionally cathartic storms of albums

I love this album, BUT...

The long instrumental interlude in "Memorial" spoils that track for me. I don't mind the idea of it, of creating this open space in the middle of the album. And maybe the episodic construction is meant to reflect episodes in the lost soldier's life, or different stages of grief, or who knows?

Anyway, what bothers me is the execution in terms of composing and arranging. As the interlude unfolds, it repeatedly stumbles. Now Sundfor (I assume it's her) is noodling around on the piano over the harmonies of the chorus. Now she has abandoned those harmonies and seems to reaching for, but not quite grasping, something in the vein of a Mozart piano concerto. When the vocals return, I can't help thinking, "Thank goodness THAT is over!"

Hah, that's the bit that sold me.

Fair enough, sometimes I can't turn off my classical-music ears/expectations.

"memorial" was the first thing i heard from this record and it elicited an immediate "holy fucking shit" from me

btw this is a great breakup record which I can unfortunately report from personal experience

sorry for your personal circumstances but I can only imagine how much better this would sound in the required emotional state to really appreciate

The long instrumental interlude in "Memorial" spoils that track for me.

That's the best part, IMO!

what really kills me about "Memorial" is that when she finally comes back in for that last chorus, it's muted, not celebratory - fits the lyric, but demonstrates considerable restraint.

Harmonically it's so different from anything Mozart would have written that it's impossible to tell if that was intentional or not but I'm leaning towards no. A lot of the record feels soundtracky to me and the general melodramatic sweep of the music emphasises that.

koko remains the worst gig venue in london though

― lex pretend, Wednesday, October 28, 2015 8:08 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

crap venue was p much the reason I didn't come down to London to see the show

glad/sad to hear it was good though

I've listened to this album, like, 5 times now. And though I think it's a good, solid, enjoyable album, I am just not hearing what is so completely special about it that you all consider it AOTY?

Good sold-out show in Manchester last night, in too small a venue. Fire alarm went off after a couple of songs, which broke things up a bit and seemed to energise Susanne and the band when they came back. Accelerate into Fade Away stupendous, and yeah Insects incredible live. Feels a bit churlish to complain, but they only played 9 songs, and were all done in 50 minutes so the shortest gig I've seen in probably 10 years.

And though I think it's a good, solid, enjoyable album, I am just not hearing what is so completely special about it that you all consider it AOTY?

I don't think this is anywhere near the album of the year, but I sort of get why people are connecting with it. Even if you exclude the middle section of Memorial, the melodic and harmonic range of a lot of these songs is much broader than in a lot of current pop, or indie-pop, Scandi or otherwise. A lot more care has gone into the arrangements, and it's what gives it the classicist edge that Ithappens refers to upthread (and what a lot of consciously retro/revivalist acts tend to get wrong). A lot of these songs feel like slowed down Abba ballads or tearjerker musical numbers or something, coupled with that soundtracky windswept feel.

I like it a lot more than I did 48hrs ago, although I really dislike Accelerate and wish she'd avoid her lower register.

Accelerate and Fade Away go so well together. That transition and Slowly (especially the key change, which feels like an album climax to me) are the moments I like most.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDkO0LuMU08

Pretty late to the party, but this is good. Some tracks remind me of School of Seven Bells, e.g. Fade Away.

Y'know, I listened to this album this morning, then I put the new Julia Holter on. And after seeing Chewie write that, I queued that song, and in the context of coming up between two Julia Holter tracks, it just sounds like a toy.

'Accelerate' rules, and feels so damn perfect coming after 'Darlings' - the more I listen to this record, the more I realise how perfectly sequenced the whole thing is, not to mention I can't name one song on this record that I dislike, and that's before we even get to how this record makes me feel.

yeah the koko gig was great, i'd heard that she doesn't have a great deal of stage presence but i dunno what those people are on about. in a koko miracle i even had an okay line of sight for the most part, despite some guy six inches taller than me deciding that a good spot to stand would be immediately in front of me, sure why not.

aaah i didn't know you'd be there, i was p much by myself because i couldn't even give away my +1 (though i had to go up on the balcony in the end anyway)

"accelerate" is amazing, yeah - one thing i love about this is how she piles more and more on what are already pretty perfect pop songs - the organ solo obv, but when it comes back with the beat??? and then the double vocal on "delirious", and the crashing drums, and the key change at the end of "slowly"...

actually, being above the crowd was incredible, you could FEEL the energy rising every time a particularly anthemic bit came up

I saw her at a festival and was pretty disappointed, but I can see she'd be great somewhere cramped and dark where people are actually listening, not picnicking.

Even if you exclude the middle section of Memorial, the melodic and harmonic range of a lot of these songs is much broader than in a lot of current pop, or indie-pop, Scandi or otherwise. A lot more care has gone into the arrangements, and it's what gives it the classicist edge that Ithappens refers to upthread (and what a lot of consciously retro/revivalist acts tend to get wrong).

This is key imo. "Slowly" is better than every Sally Shapiro song.

I've typed about it already but this album is a miracle of synthesis, a perfect hybridization of a big pop album and chamber music, of high-gloss production and single-origin auteurism (I make no secret of my enjoyment of authenticity and it rules to hear an album as wonderfully recorded and arranged as this come nearly-entirely from one woman's mind and hands), the record is stylistically diverse without feeling like it's playing tourist, I love every song except "Insects", she's the best melody-writer I can think of, I love her lyrics, love her previous records, don't 100% love her live show (her band was really loose when I saw her). I even love the middle section of Memorial, idk, yeah it's Mozart pastiche but any pastiche whether it's Mozart or Varese is still pastiche

xp "Slowly" is all about the extraordinary coda. Jamie xx should give her a call and demand tutelage in steel drums.

I think this album is, in general, tremendous, but I admit I occasionally skip "Silencer" and "Trust Me".

I know they have fans around here but my skippers are "Accelerate" and "Insects".

She was amazing in Leeds tonight, short and sweet but that's how I like a gig. Only disappointment was no 'Slowly'. Her voice hits my sweet spot. I am aware I have used the word 'sweet' twice there.

Honestly I think this might be one of those cases where ILX Hype (and not just ILX, I mean I read some Guardian review that was comparing her to Bach meets Throbbing Gristle or something, like... mate. Have you ever actually *heard* Throbbing Gristle?) has just destroyed my potential enjoyment of a thing. My expectations have just been built up too high, and everyone's praising it to the heavens, so I'm expecting the Most Amazing Record Of All Time. And it's not, it's just a nice example of Stuff I Generally Like, but the disappointment that it does not attain MOST! AMAZING! THING! status is a bit of a downer, whereas if I'd encountered it on its own terms with no expectations, I would have been pleasantly surprised, rather than disappointed.

I wish it got more hype so I could read more takes on it. Outside of ilxor I mean.

yeah i literally couldn't even give away a +1 for this, no one was interested

a high proportion of people who've heard it are very rapturous but it's still a small number (relative to bigger crit-faves like grimes, who's sort of inescapable on twitter this week), and radio won't touch her at all apparently

tho i admit that the Best Album Ever talk/expectations didn't do my first few listens any good

Goth ABBA
What a great phrase
Must check this out

"insects" is the best track on the album, what

yeah "insects" is incredible, the production is totally wild

'insects' sort of reminds me of bjork's 'pluto'

or something off to venus and back

i've been obsessed with "trust me" lately

'Insects' is absolutely amazing, and I don't understand why one would wanna skip 'Accelerate' to get to 'Fade Away'... those tracks are joined together so seamlessly that I often think of them as one thing.

ts: the accelerate => fade away transition vs the memorial => delirious transition

(a: memorial/delirious)

yeah me too

TG meets ABBA is a lofty and weird claim for sure

xpost:

Yeah, 'Memorial' -> 'Delirious' definitely the correct answer!

Delirious is so fucking good.

I keep thinking you're talking about the Christian band Deliriou5

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=18731

katherine, Alfred et al <3

AND JOSHYWINTY

so I just discovered this

apologies lex, you didn't want to hear this, but I. am. on. BOARD!

hell yeah!

it's all about 'accelerate' -> 'fade away' for me

everyone saying that 'silencer' is a skipper is mad. mad!

'Silencer' is amazing - 'Trust Me' is the one I most regularly feel the urge to skip.

yeah that is literally the only song on the album that doesn't really grab me

these songs are both bold and intricate

Had this album hanging around on my HD for months but decided to give it a proper listen the other night. It's proper good innit?

I like it a lot, and I thank The Singles Jukebox for pushing "Accelerate" down my gullet.

i like the fact that 'slowly' seems to improve with every listen for me

I had somehow missed this album entirely until finding this thread and then subsequently listening to (and then immediately purchasing) an extremely rewarding record; so once again I say thank u based ILX for turning me on to an album I like a whole lot. very heartened to see how the general consensus is that everyone who seems to have liked this album upon first contact as much as I did only liked it more over time, which is a Very Good Sign.

my physical copy of Ten Love Songs is still en route from Sweden, but the copy of The Brothel that I snagged off a US-based eBayer showed up today. my initial take is that Ten Love Songs is the decidedly superior album (and it's also easier to access since The Brothel isn't on Spotify), but holy ding-dong-doodly-fuck @ "Knight of Noir":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBtx71Df2w8

blocked on copyright grounds

I just officially ~got into~ this album over the past 48h listening to it like six times snowed in during a blizzard

it just occurred to me that this is basically an entire album of "Sprawl II" which kind of makes me love it even more?

also it somehow manages to be enchanting w/o being precious which I feel like is a very difficult thing to do.

I only listened to "Delirious" and "Fade Away" both of which are Super Trouper as fuck, esp. the former. I'm down!

Listening to this album is like being snowed in during a blizzard (a compliment).

Unreleased track performed on Norwegian TV this weekend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PemIB2CprVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7HeNdR7jc

another unreleased track

Not into this side of her musical personality at all. sorry you guys

You mean the "I have just written a song here it is, I am playing an instrument I am proficient in" side, prior to production? The creative side?

Yeah I don't think it's a different personality, still feels like her melodies and singing, same thing with "Memorial" starting out years ago as a piano-only 4 minute tune.

Yeah, I'm drinking from the kool aid of this record now, aided in no small part by a Saturday evening drive to it while in an angry mood. Darlings is ridiculously audacious, Silencer is gorgeous, and I could listen to the segue into Fade Away forever. Insects also fantastic! What a way to finish.

I'll get laughed off ILX but the album this reminds me of most is the last Embrace record - overwrought emotional drama, really lush electronic production, massive choruses.

One of the main differences is that Susanne doesn't sing like she permanently has a cold. That gives her a massive advantage over Embrace for me.

This is very true.

Perhaps Johnny Fever is worried the two new songs are evidence of her going into "coffee house" territory or something

I dunno, I'd be quite happy to hear her do a record that's completely in the vein of the version of 'Shame' posted above. Seems to me that she'd do a really great job of it. What a talent.

can we just take a moment to talk about the toaster oven ding in "Fade Away"?

like the last 10 minutes are so serious and dramatic and HUUUUUUGE w/ sweeping soaring vocals and synths and then this tinny muffled little *ding*, there is so much bathos and it is so charming

it's great yeah. 'Your lunch is ready'. And then that whole instrumental bit that follows is taking the bowl out of the microwave with oven gloves and setting it down on a tray.

There's a new single but it's just, like, acoustic w/ no frosty beats or organs or any of that

http://susannesundfor.com/reincarnation/

There's also a new song with Royksopp, 'Never Ever', out today.

The Royksopp single is so good. Best thing they've done since The Girl & the Robot.

they're both fine but lack virtually everything I loved about Ten Love Songs

the royksopp single RULES

i spent the duration of it thinking about how much i love her voice

OMFG

https://www.facebook.com/susannesundfor/photos/a.10150638043317192.410341.247990362191/10155290218442192/

oh my god oh my god oh my god

YES!

Right on

Everyone's coming back this year, eh!?

https://www.facebook.com/susannesundfor/ has been updated with lyrics/photos since then

wait is 06.06.2017 in european date format or american???

XD

It's happening people! New album out on August 25th. It's called Music For People In Trouble.

http://www.josepvinaixa.com/blog/susanne-sundfor-music-for-people-in-trouble/

spotify link is down :(

Global rollout is timezone sensitive. We'll get it at midnight in EDT.

I listened to Undercover here https://songwhisper.tumblr.com/?ref_url=https://s9e.github.io/iframe/tumblr.min.html

agh tumblr link is also being temperamental, this is trump's america

seems like it's not going to be another pop album like Ten Love Songs unfortunately but the single's quite nice

I'm not super into her work prior to the last album, and this is reminiscent of all that, but I think the composition is better? Or more to my liking, at least.

holy shit this is gorgeous

Looks like Reincarnation (posted upthread) is on the album too?

bleh, a staid ballad

Differentiating between 'pop Susanne' and 'non-pop Susanne' is kind of meaningless to me cause she's serving the same amazing melodies either way.

^^^

This song takes off too.

Reading an interview about this in a Norwegian newspaper:

Undercover is "inspired by Dolly Parton", and she goes on to say "country and folk music are genres I always come back to". Album inspired by her recent journeys and the political reality of the world today, apparently.

also bleh, it seems Ten Love Songs is going to be another Love's Victory March i.e. brilliant, sumptuous, colossal album that nothing following will be like

Parts of Ten Love Songs are like this though

those are the parts I don't like

basically I don't understand how someone can go from "Accelerate" and "Insects" to something one step away from an Adele song

holy shit this is gorgeous

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, 6 June 2017 05:00 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I get the Adele complaint, but c'mon, that pedal steel.

it's not like this side of her is unprecedented or anything, though I'd definitely prefer it if it had a dance beat

I don't care for The Sound of War (the other new song she was playing live) or Reincarnation at all so I'm just thankful that there's something to like about Undercover

idk this is great

also bleh, it seems Ten Love Songs is going to be another Love's Victory March i.e. brilliant, sumptuous, colossal album that nothing following will be like

Seems a little early to make that prediction. New album is the same length as the last one, has an intriguing title and opens with a song called "Mantra." I don't think she's lost her ambition.

This track is heavenly. Could easily see it as an outlier on a Ten Love Songs-esque suite, but I'd just as happily take an entire LP of ballads this beautifully composed and personable

She started out doing piano ballads - only, her piano ballads are as different from other piano ballads as her pop songs are.

another one of the new songs, live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2dG1cXM9rg

i love this even though the songs like it are the ones i skip on ten love songs. she rules, this rules, so does ten love songs, so does the silicone veil, so does that royksopp song

so does reincarnation

welp I guess the whole grandiose goth ABBA thing was a fluke wasn't it

As someone who thinks that "Darlings" is secretly the best song on Ten Love Songs, probably not a surprise that I love this. 70s MOR was an important part of that album too - surely that's where 50% of the Abba comparison comes from?

"Mountaineers", which features John Grant: https://open.spotify.com/album/53vgNpVSa0xDdCpY6t7wv4

Not available in my region yet, but hopefully have something to look forward to early tomorrow.

Ahh there it is.

This album's going to have some really beautiful parts scattered about it if you can stay awake between them.

yeah this won't be an ILX hivemind record but I love her arrangements so much

Also here for those who are Spotifyless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D3_TDB4zzA

The pay off is typically beautiful but it feels like it takes a long time to get there. It seems like this is going to be a much harder album to love than Ten Love Songs.

idk about you guys, but i've been getting my full life from these new tracks. she can do no wrong in my mind.

definitely my favourite of the new songs so far

they kind of feel like the same song

going to be on the Scott Walker Prom in about an hour.

love it

yes.

tour dates

Aug 22 The Courtyard Theatre London, Uk
Sep 12 Savoy Theatre Helsinki, Finland
Sep 14 Les Trois Baudets Paris, France
Sep 16 artheater Köln Cologne, Germany
Sep 18 Vondelkerk Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sep 20 silent green Kulturquartier Berlin, Germany
Oct 02 Union Chapel London, United Kingdom
Oct 03 CCA Glasgow, United Kingdom
Oct 04 Manchester The Deaf Institute Manchester, United Kingdom
Oct 07 The Sugar Club Dublin, Ireland
Oct 12 Södra Teatern Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 02 The Red Room at Cafe 939 Boston, MA
Nov 03 Phi Centre Montreal, Canada
Nov 04 Adelaide Hall Toronto, Canada
Nov 06 The Hamilton Washington, DC
Nov 09 1st Ward at Chop Shop Chicago, IL
Nov 12 St. James Hall Vancouver, Canada
Nov 14 Holocene Portland, OR
Nov 16 Swedish American Hall San Francisco, CA
Nov 17 The Sanctuary at Pico-Union Project Los Angeles, CA

Going to the October London one

Going to Vancouver :)

Going to London too! I love Union Chapel.

Going to sleep if the new stuff is any indication!

love a good sleep

lord knows I need it

Brussels on Sept. 15th, can't go that weekend, work. :-(

Definitely going in Montréal!

no way I'm missing that TO date. has she toured canada before?

Missed out on ticket for local gig at deaf institute so heading up to Glasgow

Damn, Amsterdam already sold out :(

oh man I'm in one of those towns on one of those dates, for work

balls it's sold out

snagged a ticket to the LA date

Seeing her at the Scott Walker Prom I really wasn't prepared for the sheer power of her voice in a live setting.

Just got my sf tix. Even if she doesn't do a lot from TLS I'll still relish getting to see her in a venue that small.

stylistic shift reminds me of Sol Seppy changing gears on "Bird Calls" (EP) from her former dream-pop stylings

oh wow montreal! nice

The Brothel was my first Sundfør album. This seems less a stylistic shift than a return to form.

Dang, Paris is sold out too, gig's close to my place too, bleh

Weird, not only do I not know this person, I also don't think I have ever even heard of the venue she is playing here in November, which appears to be some sort of restaurant/club.

"stylistic shift reminds me of Sol Seppy changing gears on "Bird Calls" (EP) from her former dream-pop stylings"

wow you're the only person I've ever seen mention Sol Seppy. I love her stuff. What has happened to her? Where is she? What a mysterious person

Missing the London show by one day as I have to leave that morning. But hoping I can see her in SF.

( https://www.facebook.com/Sol-Seppy-292583807466864/ she recently moved, apparently )

Weird, not only do I not know this person, I also don't think I have ever even heard of the venue she is playing here in November, which appears to be some sort of restaurant/club.

i'm assuming you're talking about the chop shop? yeah definitely a weird venue, but they do put shows on every once in a while. last one i recall worth going to was machinedrum. they also hosted some free CRJ show the other week

https://www.facebook.com/susannesundfor/posts/10155556145282192

"Due to unforeseen manufacturing delays the release of Music For People In Trouble has been delayed.

Digital & CD - September 8th
Vinyl - September 29th"

Hi Akm, just saw your post regarding Sol Seppy itt. Sophie's last release was in 2012 and I can't find anything new since then. She seems to have dropped off.

Wow, the new album <3 <3 <3
It's not as immediate as the previous one but what a grower

Yeah, this album is so beautiful. In a way it's like a more stripped down version of The Brothel.

She's pretty much the best songwriter around at this point isn't she?

all the beats and organs are gone aren't they

not if by beats and organs you mean piano and pedal steel!

anyway I'm a miserable prick so of course I love this but it's not gonna be another ILX zeitgeist crasher

i'm all over the record.

I'm over the record.

i don't like much of the first half, but i love the second half

i really like the last half of 'the sound of war'

and the first half

Really beautiful album. Perhaps not every melody and song is stellar but it's a very high bar she's setting. So confident in the material. Can't wait to hear the new stuff in Glasgow.

And where's Lex?

So intrigued by the lyrical content too. What's been going on for her since the last album...

Jealous of you guys who have the album. In the meantime I'll have to make do with this recording on a mountaintop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OTGgmXMfs0

The live vocals on the last third..

wow, that live performance of Undercover blew me away. This song captures the lovesick feeling so perfectly

more on youtube: about the location and trek (includes a bit of The Brothel):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mW-MDmZAvc

and The Sound Of War:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqnpuhHs7kQ

Jealous of you guys who have the album. In the meantime I'll have to make do with this recording on a mountaintop

📹

That's a beautiful performance. Lyrics of love lost. Which seems to be the theme of the album imo.

Thanks for those YT links StanM. Really great stuff.

I'm obsessed with Music For People In Trouble right now. It's pretty much the perfect follow-up for me. It's going to be a great autumn soundtrack.

On non stop repeat for me

this is.....quite good. REALLY reminding me of Weyes Blood (and not just coz she just released a single) so if you didn't hear her album from last year then hear it, it's amazing. 'the golden age' is p much a Weyes Blood song

who's the actor sampled btw? tt reckons ben whishaw

this isn't like Ten Love Songs where it's immediately lovable and I don't see this ending up an all-time favourite, but it is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. The last two minutes of Undercover is an incredible performance.

This is very different but very good. The sound of it is amazing.

Stark.

Love it.

I've definitely come around on this now that I've heard the previously released tracks in context. The pedal steel is used to haunting effect.

these are powerful songs, though I miss the gothic majesty of Ten Love Songs

No one can convince me that if Adele cut "Undercover" it wouldn't be massive.

feel like it would be completely redundant TBH

I listened to this last night and it's grown on me a little bit. This is definitely one of those records that only locks in when you're in the mood for it.

what Sundfor does as a vocalist, especially on songs like "Undercover", is take the idea of a particular type of heartbreak - the mix of loneliness and patheticness that feels so private and tortured and insular - and blow it up to seem like the end of the world, but in a way that seems sincere rather than performed. I wouldn't say she avoids melodrama - I think that's key to the idea of her as a performer - but rather her tendencies towards melodrama are convincingly authentic.

So in the hands of eg Adele you can imagine it being sung well (probably better, technically) and it being a great performance, but not anywhere near as believable a statement. I don't necessarily believe authenticity alone can make for better music, but working in this particular style, it requires a degree of earnestness that can only come from full committment to it, and you can hear that in both this album's slide guitar and sample usage, or Ten Love Songs' willingness to embrace the kitsch of italo-disco and the grandiose string arrangements.

my first experience of really loving pop music was Shakespeare's Sister "Stay" which is basically a Twilight fan fiction turned into a synth power ballad but performed with disarming conviction, and I think we're in similar territory here - whether its intentional or not I think Sundfor as a artist really gets the idea of low culture as a valid means of expression to create high art (low/high used in terms of critical canon hierarchies)

Susanne has announced her biggest ever London show at Shepherds Bush Empire on March 1st 2018. Pre-sale tickets: https://t.co/G90Ls3H2AZ pic.twitter.com/8XoIT20KRe

— Susanne Sundfør (@susannesundfor) September 11, 2017

This is really, really powerful stuff. Makes sense that after such a grand, boundless album she'd do something smaller and more confined.

Cool portrait.
I have to say Sunder is one of these individuals, a la Gaga, who no matter how many pictures I see of them, I can never really get what they look like (and who I would never recognise on the street)

err Sundfør obviously

The 'music for people in trouble' track just had me going a bit mad trying to work out what I thought it was going to be a cover of (thankfully not as I think it's one of the worst songs ever, Ultra Nate 'free')
Or is it?

When the acoustic guitar first appeared in the title track, I thought it was going to turn into Erica America by Jens Lekman. It sounds exactly like the intro.

yeah, that too!

http://thequietus.com/articles/22874-heading-to-the-west-coast-susanne-sundfr-s-13-favourite-albums

I like this:

With the titles of my two last albums - 10 Love Songs and Music For People in Trouble - I wanted them to be a bit stupid. I'm drawn to that kind of art where you're told: "This is what it is.” And then you have to figure out yourself the depth of it, instead of having a very extravagant and deep title and trying to work out what it's about.

ok hang on THE CORRS?

hahahaha

Fair play to her. They wrote some lovely melodies. It's just that Jim's a spacecake.

man this record is gorgeous. great quietus list too

i like that she included for the roses bc that's what "bedtime story" puts me in the mind of

I've gone from not thinking a lot to this record to thinking it's amazing over a few listens. A grower, and not to be written off because it's nothing like the previous record.

could be that i'm just very tired at work today but "mountaineers" made me cry at my desk

I said this before but the climax of that song is completely unreal

Ten Love Songs completely passed me by, still not heard it, as I've got my hands full with this new album, which is fantastic. Just in time, too.

I love that she loves Seventh Tree. I totally agree with her take on it.

i like that she included /for the roses/ bc that's what "bedtime story" puts me in the mind of

Ditto pink moon. Her guitar playing on the title track reminds me of -horn-

My previously planned project at work, the reason I couldn't go to her show in Brussels tomorrow, has been postponed, but now her show is sold out, of course. Maybe next time. :-(

This is fast becoming a top 10 of the year contender for me... she did something really special here

more chilly mountaintop tracks on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_tdmXL2gIM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UY4Oi9wMoo

and she's touring solo? (didn't know it was without her band)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z81RbkGLCoc

i'm as bitey as a shark

Picked up the vinyl from Piccadilly Records on Saturday. Beautiful.

rude question, but how much did you pay for it? Online prices are pretty ridiculous from what I've seen

£19

Very excited to see her in London tomorrow!

Union Chapel gig was v special, even though she only played one song from 10 Love Songs ("Trust Me"). No band, just one backing musician/singer (would have loved to hear a pared-down version of "Kamikaze" or "Slowly" ah well). The peak of it all was the back end of "Undercover" - that voice!

I never realised so many of her songs are (at least partly) in the 2nd person.

I am devastated that I left it to a pal to book the tickets for tonight in Glasgow, because said pal was full of wine when he booked the tickets and managed to book them for London, and now Glasgow is sold out. We've booked to go to the March show in London as a trip but it is beyond frustrating to know I could have seen her tonight.

I ended up getting a ticket and I was so very glad I did. She spent just over an hour swapping between piano, guitar and keyboard-type synth, literally just her and one instrument and her incredible voice on stage.

Finally got round to the album last night. Hugely impressive. Will be buying.

Kind of undecided about this. Moments stop me in my tracks (Undercover is breathtaking) but there's whole sections which seem pretty but lead me to dumb analogies about sunlight on the surface of glaciers and whatnot. I shall persevere.

Are any of the ILM crew going to one of the North American shows? http://www.susannesundfor.com/

I went on Friday in Montreal. It's really intimate, just her and her keyboard and guitar. Her voice is astounding. She interacts a lot with the crowd, like actual conversation, she's fun and sweet. I don't want to give spoilers on the set list, but I'll just say it's very very downtempo.

Yeah, that reminds me, she is playing SF...should look into that.

everything LRLR said. she played an unexpected cover and it killed me. her singing really is incredible, like on a pure talent level maybe the best live singer I've seen

Seeing her at LPR in NYC on Tuesday, very excited

i will be at the SF show!

"what did you have for dinner?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln1i669eIGw

Seeing her TONIGHT!

Susanne was really great, everyone in the room was blown away by the power and emotion in her voice. She's such a powerful performer that's it's a little jarring to see how charming, personable, and even funny she was between songs. The songs from the new album all sounded gorgeous. She only played Slowly and Darlings from 10 Love Songs, but they were showstoppers.

My one complaint was that it was a little hard for 5'9" me to see her over the tall, predominantly Scandinavian crowd

Jealous that she sang "slowly". Wasn't on the Glasgow setlist. Agree though that the power and timbre of her voice are spine tingling at times.

omg yes slowly

My one complaint was that it was a little hard for 5'9" me to see her over the tall, predominantly Scandinavian crowd

same!!!!

Wow you got "Slowly" and "Darlings"! We only got "Trust Me", which is the one song I don't adore on TLS.

My bad, it wasn't Darlings, it was Trust Me

I thought it was an appropriately dramatic closer, though. It helped that the piano player/clarinetist she was playing with was incredible

She was strictly solo in Toronto - I have to say, "Mantra" sounded way better on keyboards than acoustic guitar

I was sort of surprised at how close she came to selling out a decent-size venue considering I don't believe her albums have ever gotten a physical release here

I liked how Anja is always playing Music for People in Trouble in Joachim Trier's Thelma. Helped clarify a deliberately underwritten character.

I sprung for the vinyl copy of the record and, it's not cheap, but it's one of the most beautifully packaged records I've bought in years

i'm as bitey as a shark

I can't unhear this btw, but it makes me so happy anyway

More European dates for 2018 added:
http://bellaunion.com/2017/12/susanne-sundfor-announces-eu-dates-for-2018/

I also bought the vinyl edition recently. The URL on the download card doesn't seem to be correct. Has anyone else been more successful?

I had no trouble with my download url

Thanks, got it now. The issue was an http/https mix up on my part.

Just got tickets for the Manchester show in March.

This album has gone from "meh" to "oh my god, this is fucking awesome" over the months. It's a beautiful record that deserves as much attention as the last one, even if it is a very different (and less immediate) record.

^^ yeah songwriting is still top notch, and there probably aren't ten better singers than Susanne in pop music

I prefer it over even Ten Love Songs. I admired that album's audacity but the songwriting is better here. It's really a feat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIx9snSep88

making it your own, great artist

so within a very short time, i learned about the lady who Bonnie Prince has covered at album length via another thread, and, reading this thread, mistook her for this lady. i am listening to ten love songs now and surely will be purchasing the physical version, and will check out susanna later today. has anyone made the same mistake? likes 'em both? likes one but not the other?

who is this other artist?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Wallumrød

New one is sounding gorgeous today. Shift brings to mind Emiliana Torrini’s sparse “Fisherman’s Woman’ album, which is a gem

that is actually a perfect analogy for why the new one was disappointing because "Telepathy" is so far and away the best thing Emiliana Torrini has ever done

<3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uRyOu4YV4

just came here post that stanm. i was lucky enough to be at that concert, the whole thing was filmed, so maybe there's more to come? lovely venue, great acoustics, and she was absolutely amazing from start to finish.

Jesus Christ. She's ridiculous.

otm

that performance of 'Undercover' is breathtaking

New (?) radio doc on SS and Oslo:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bkr5nz

Not sure if it's available outside UK.

Amazingly, it's available in the US

it's even available in Europe! Is this the soft brexit then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHKcvDUtxp8

(= new song, performed on a Norwegian awards show at the end of October)

waiting for her own arrangement on that to be honest, feels a little generic movie sound track to me. :-/

Same show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1kdI0IygAE

that performance of Undercover is particularly brilliant isn't it, the things she does with her voice 2.50 onwards - not just a technical skill of voice mastery but the way she really sells the sense of loneliness and longing at the song's core

Wow, it's stunning!

she's on Mercury Rev's new album (a tribute to Bobbie Gentry’s 1968 The Delta Sweete) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbGxxIsa5k

“Reincarnation” live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBuhRDL_hGY

Music For People In Trouble - Live from The Barbican out next month.

Out now! 10-minute "Undercover" comes with a bass solo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st0i1we9P7s

Kind of wish she had done one of these for Ten Love Songs instead, the arrangements on MFPIT live don't depart that much from the album versions.

Lovely song. Part of the chorus sounded a lot like another tune I couldn't put my finger on at first. I finally realized that it employs a similar melody to Killing Me Softly's "And so I came to see him, to listen for a while…"

Yeah this feels a bit redundant - good vocal performance but I can't see me ever reaching for it over the actual album

I'm glad to have these distended versions, and to have a document of her astonishing live vocals.

i think the vocals in StanM's Youtube link upthread are better than anything on this album

New song!

https://open.spotify.com/album/4Pz0crD94099fDlhAc2eA3?si=sruksQ1mQP2NRYpwDevIZw

i like this more than a lot of the last album!

I like it
Thought it was a cover of 'Na na na' by The Knife for a second or two

5-track EP Self Portrait, the soundtrack to the Norwegian documentary Selvportrett, is up on Spotify. It includes “When The Lord”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWFCkcdmZI

getting a little stoned and doing gift shopping in manhattan & brooklyn while listening to ten love songs is one of my all time favorite holiday traditions. A+ perfect record.

The greatest album of all time by a Norwegian artist

My favourite albums by here are still the two she made with Lars Horntvedt from Jaga Jazzist producing in the early 10s, "The Brother" and "The Silicone Veil". Some absolutely beautiful arrangements on those two.

"The Brothel" anyway.

"mountaineers" from music for people in trouble is used to great effect in the norwegian film thelma, currently available on hulu (and unconditionally loved by me)

the second half of "mountaineers" is like dying, in a good way

that's a better description than I could ever have come up with BN, it's a monumental piece of music

I was in Iceland in 2018 and I spent a lot of time in coaches, driving the flatlands of the coast roads between the sea and the mountains, listening over and over to People in Trouble, particularly Mountaineers. Jesus, what a song.

Bit random but I wanted to bump this thread after Susanne's appearance in the top 77 tracks thread, and there's no live performance of that song that I can find, but this one of a debut album track from 2012 was uploaded on youtube last year and I hadn't seen it before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKKzpGaOVgI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCISZfVRTfs

Music for People in Trouble is a pretty great album

I've just realised I mainly listen to albums when I'm driving and I've barely driven anywhere this past year ;_;
(SS's albums were on rotation fairly frequently)

wasn't feeling Music for People in Trouble when it first came out

https://i.imgur.com/U3eEduw.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5sGROCRiDs

!

chills at hearing her voice again.

only noticed halfway it was a Röyksopp track, which explains the lack of melodic development.

but that voice… I can’t stop listening.

Sounds like she's covering a Pet Shop Boys track

(i.e. I love it)

what a voice - sigh

yeah

that was awesome

Another one with Röyksopp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s_6LjSmZqo

in total, that's 5 songs on the three Röyksopp albums this year
https://www.facebook.com/susannesundfor/videos/r%C3%B6yksopp-stay-awhile-ft-susanne-sundf%C3%B8r/479643497342027/

+ she got married over the Summer
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=627253205427198

I wonder what the song was for the first dance

Digging through various Fleetwood Mac-youtubes looking for Christine nuggets, I found this magnificent Stevie-cover from Norwegian TV (yes, the host at the start is Happy Tom from Turbo). Notably, Susanne is convering the 1981 rehearsal version, which is among the most beautiful things known to man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f65ffDfGGac

Hadn't heard about the soundtrack she did for the movie Self Portrait, looking forward to listening.

New music coming?

23rd February 2023 pic.twitter.com/jhi8RqgHwE

— Susanne Sundfør (@susannesundfor) February 14, 2023

!

Please let it be new music

new line of chandeliers

https://www.stereogum.com/2214704/susanne-sundfor-alyosha-leikara-ljod-blomi/music/

i like these a lot more than anything on the last album

pretty fantastic stuff

I can't listen now but excited

the second of these has an extremely unfortunate first two minutes. i was on the cusp of a denunciatory post and then she started doing vocal harmony things. still don't think we particularly needed to hear sundfor's idea of gospel music, and as i type she's abandoned the harmony stuff and gone back to the cringe. wasn't into the first single too much either but it was about the level of the previous album. the more she releases the clearer it is that TLS was a once-a-career work

Well she's allergic to doing the same album twice so in that way I agree TLS is probably a once-a-career work. It's natural if it remains her best work too, considering how good it is. She also said she was burnt out after producing all those bangers mostly by herself.

HOWEVER, she's definitely put out synth pop songs as good as some of those on TLS before that album. And other incredible songs before and after.

The snippet that ends the 2nd tracks is the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle played pretty traditionally, I think it'd be fun if she explored that more on the new album. Both these songs slap.

She also said she was burnt out after producing all those bangers mostly by herself.

Which is why a Susanne Sundfør LP co-produced by Röyksopp makes so much sense!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYLoNtbWWpk

kind of an incredible move releasing your wedding video as an actual music video. congrats Susanne!

(April 28 gonna be a big album release day for me between this, Avalon Emerson and Jessie Ware)

love that

<3

pretty good album, i like it a lot more than music for people in trouble but it's obviously no ten love songs.

three of the ten tracks being spoken word is a little much for my taste but the second of those at least has a cool instrumental

I was a bit nervous about the spoken word songs ruining the flow similar to the latest Lana Del Rey, but they totally work here. Need to spend time with this album as there's so much to take in but there's some really gorgeous moments here. I love how loose it all feels.

I gave it one listen yesterday. It was pouring rain here - perfect weather to light a candle and put on a singer-songwriter album. Don't have any specific comments off that one listen, but I really enjoyed it.

xp well it helps that two of the spoken word tracks are just the intro and outro and the other has a compelling enough backing

There are some great songs here, like the entire "ashera's song" -> "ru​̄​nā" sequence (Susanne doing Scott 4/psych-folk-ABBA is a good look)...though I'm not sure the whole album adds up, the back half is (so far) a bit dispensable apart from "alyosha".

The flute part in sannu yarru li reminds me of a relatively famous jazz or funk song. it's on the tip of my tongue and I feel like an idiot for not recognizing it.

I gave it one listen yesterday. It was pouring rain here - perfect weather to light a candle and put on a singer-songwriter album. Don't have any specific comments off that one listen, but I really enjoyed it.

― peace, man, Saturday, April 29, 2023 8:47 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just here to repeat this, basically. This is a great, chill album. Just flipped the disc from Fare Thee Well to Leikara Ljóð. Great sequencing there.

Still wondering about the flute part I mentioned in my last post. We have some kind of rolling thread for recognizing melodies on ilx, but I can't remember what it is off the top of my head.

Found it! I was thinking of Fishbone: Can anyone identify which song used this melody?

nice bigger-band live version of blómi: https://susannesundfor.bandcamp.com/track/bl-mi-feat-rohey-taalah-live-from-trondheim

beautiful