Norwegian singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfør made headlines in international media, not least because of her latest album, “Ten Love Songs”.
“This is brilliant pop from Norwegian megastar”, wrote Alexis Petidris in the British paper The Guardian. “At its most straightforward, Sundfør’s songwriting can sound a little like Lana Del Rey without the cliched affectations and invented persona, but it’s hardly ever straightforward. Sometimes the contrast between Sundfør’s pop inclinations and her more avant garde impulses are as stark as the monochrome lighting”, he claims.
Journalist Tim Jonze in the same paper wrote that Listening to Susanne Sundfør’s latest album, Ten Love Songs, made it tricky to predict what kind of artist you’re going to meet. But he concludes, “Ten Love Songs is one of the year’s best albums, and possibly one of the nerdiest, too”.
Journalist James Hall in the newspaper The Telegraph, puts it this way:
The 29-year-old Norwegian is a self-confessed pop nerd who loves Abba and Carly Simon along with Radiohead and Joni Mitchell. Yet she is also classically trained, as in thrall to Handel and Mozart as she is to Baroque music and Philip Glass.
“Ten Love Songs, such an intriguing record. Released to much acclaim in February, the largely self-produced album comprises 10 ruminations on love,” he wrote.
She sees no inconsistency in these passions. It is the mingling of all these strands that makes her latest album, At the darker end of the spectrum are songs about bad relationships such as Kamikaze and Delirious. The latter includes the lyric “I hope you’ve got a safety net ’cause I’m going to push you over the edge”. The album also contains songs of yearning, such as the astonishing 10-minute Memorial, which starts as an epic ballad in the vein of Madonna’s Live To Tell before it veers off into an extended classical coda.
“Accelerate”, Official Music Video
About her sixth album, the Australian magazine DoubleJ wrote:
“While Norwegian singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfør is something of an unknown proposition in Australia, she’s practically a superstar in her home country. It remains to be seen whether her album Ten Love Songs will propel her profile elsewhere, but it certainly ought to.
This is brilliantly crafted, mature pop music. Elements of dance music, prog-rock, synth pop and modern art/classical music combine to make perfect sounding dark pop songs that may seem uncomplicated on the surface, but pack plenty of sonic wonders when you delve in deeper.”
The magazine concludes that “this is a massive, beautiful sounding album and it has been shaped with laudable expertise. While it’s obvious that there’s enormous talent on show here, it’s easily accessible music too. We strongly doubt she’ll be an unknown around these parts for much longer.”
Internationally Acclaimed Norwegian Artist, written by Tor Kjolberg