Susanne Sundfør - "Ten Love Songs"

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.