Susanne Sundfør - KGRL.fm Artist of the Month

by Frank Gualtier -- 10/01/07,10/06/07

C

heck this out.

KGRL.fm Radio has featured Susanne Sundfør as their October 2007 Artist of The Month

I wrote a small review for her new album awhile back and at that time it was very frustrating because information about her was sparse. Well not anymore! KGRL.fm has done a beautiful job with loads of information.

There is a bio (by far the most comprehensive I have seen yet for Susanne), interview, gallery, videos, a signed CD giveaway contest and more.

Get over there and check it out -- they really did Susanne right and she's so deserving.

KGRL.fm you rock!
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[ KGRL.fm - Susanne Sundfør | website | myspace | Susanne Sundfør LP (Hardcopy) ]

Susanne Sundfør - Susanne Sundfør LP

by Frank Gualtier -- 09/16/07

M

ore Scandinavian grace and little bit of magic cometh our way...

Norway's Susanne Sundfør released her self titled debut LP this year and it's a beauty. If I were rich I would buy everyone a copy of this and I bet you'd all insist on paying me back -- it's that good.

The compilation is an eleven track (plus one hidden song) pop-rock album in the same vein as some of The Beatles more poignant and mellow works like Eleanor Rigby while occasionally brushing more epic skies and rich progressions that remind me of Great Northern but always rent in a personal manner.

Both the afore mentioned harmonic progressions as well as her pros are often split into opposing hues of dichotomy. She sings in celebration of resignation in what sounds like a spiritual epiphany in 'I Resign' and of strength in loneliness leading to an open door in 'Walls'. The first song will raise goosebumps -- the second will quite possibly make you want to weep and in both, as with many of her other songs, she paints the backdrop as much with her music as with her words.

When I hear her voice I think of a butterfly. It flips and flops and flutters around so casually as to appear almost clumsy and yet just as that butterfly can navigate through a field of thistle without so much as a single incident so too does Susanne flirt with notes. An excellent example is how she ends each repetition of chorus in her song 'Gravity' -- dancing about like a songbird in spring (yet again against a somewhat jaded text) and tagging every note of these lovely alternating short scales. It's breathtaking.

She doesn't sound like anyone I've ever heard but I have seen her compared to Chan Marshall and I wouldn't argue with that too much.

Every song on this album is fitfully and/or joyfully moving and filled with incredible depth. She's only twenty one years old yet she sings of things very far beyond her years. Things many artists twice her age can't touch. She's one of the brightest stars in a sky filled with brilliant constellations and I simply cannot praise her enough as an artist or suitably elevate her work on this incredible album.
--

H

ere's a video of Susanne performing live at Rockefeller with the KORK orchestra.

This is a beautifully charged performance. You can almost taste the electricity in the air and Susanne's disciplined composure is as stunning as her music.

--Bravo--

'The Waves', 'Dear John' then 'After You Left'


[ website | myspace | Susanne Sundfør LP (Hardcopy) ]

Voices to Live and Die by - Katharina Nuttall

by Frank Gualtier -- 08/10/07

Deep, lush, dark but not jaded, commanding and yearning, intoxicating, somewhat androgynous and very sensual, beautifully unsettling and technically true. The first time I heard her sing I was taken with goosebumps. Nine months later and I'm still waiting for them to go down. Katharina Nuttall has a voice to live and die by.

She's also the author and performer of one of my favorite songs 'Place of Hope' from her debut solo album 'This Is How I Feel'. (see the video attached below)

You can find more of her videos with this Google search.

In addition to the more epic pop-rock ballad style songs you'll find above there's also a few softer and sometimes extremely wrenching songs like 'Our Kind of Love' and 'Dry the Tears'. Those two in particular are reminiscent of memorable movie score pieces. No surprise considering she actually has written movie scores.

And you'll hear the Peter Gunn'ish sounding rhythm driven 'In My House' and 'Shake It Babe' which you might think came right out of an Elvis Presley dance scene.

Very versatile.

Having produced and performed backing vocals for the likes of Ane Brun (who does some backup vocals as well for Katharina on 'This Is How I Feel') and produced movie and video as well she is a woman of many hats.

'This Is How I Feel' is an album I highly recommend buying. It's a profound experience that will saturate you thoroughly and stay with you forever.

Katharina Nuttall - Place of Hope

'Down by the river there's a place of hope
A place of hope
And when the dark nights come that is where I'll go
It's where I'll go
You left a love-mark
In my heart
It hurts to Breathe
Hurts to breath
I was to scared to fall
I really had to leave
I had to leave
In my dreams
there's a place
We swim you and me
I wanna drown with you again
I threw a coin into a wishing well
A wishing well?
yes! A wishing well
But there was no coming back and no water to spell
No water to spell
In my dreams
there's a place
We swim you and me
I wanna drown with you again
Give me a place of hope' ~Katharina Nuttall - 'Place of Hope'

Links for Katharina Nuttall:

• Website
  
• MySpace
  
• Merch