| CD REVIEW Ane Brun |
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Band : Ane Brun Norwegian born (she’s lived in Stockholm, Sweden since 2000) Pop artist Ane Brun (full name Brunvoll) started her musical career rather late, at the age of 21, when she moved the old family guitar to Oslo, where she was living back then. In the 3 years that followed, she learned to play songs by her favourite artists (Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Ben Harper, and Nick Drake), developping her own style along the way and performing for the first time in 1998 as simple street musician in Barcelona and San Sebastian, Spain. When returning to Norway she moved to Bergen (some 300kms West from Oslo, near the Atlantic Ocean) to become part of the band Damsels In Distress, and in 2000 she moved to Stockholm to become a professional musician. In order to get her music “out there”, she started her own record label DetErMine Records (translates as “those are my records”), which has worked with V2 from the very beginning. Her 2003 debut album Spending Time With Morgan immediately wins her the Swedish Manifest award. 2005’s sophomore album A Temporary Dive is then launched throughout Europe, and brings a radiohit with the single “Lift Me”, a song done in collaboration with Norwegian act Madrugada. Also in 2005, Brun releases the Duets album, and as the title implies it contains duet songs with, among others, Wendy McNeill, Tobias Fröberg, Ellekari Larsson (The Tiny, and her partner in the label), Madrugada, Ron Sexsmith, and more. She then turns up touring all over Europe, playing the smallest clubs as well as being invited to such prestigious festivals as Lowlands (Holland), Norwegian Wood (Norway), Hultsfredsfestivalen (Sweden), Moldejazz, Öya, and Quart. On Sept. 1st she ends up as support to Keren Ann at the prestigious Olympiade De Paris, and on Dec. 1st she supports a-ha at London’s Wembley Stadion. For A Temporary Dive Ane received a Swedish Spellemansprisen in 2005, and an Alarmprisen in 2006. She was also nominated as Best Norwegian Act at the European MTV Awards 2005, as Best Norwegian Singer by NRK, and Brest Swedish Pop Artist at the Grammies. Since then, she’s released a live album titled Live In Scandinavia (2007) and 2 studio albums (Changing Of The Seasons and Sketches, both issued during 2008…though I’ve read something about the latter being discontinued by the manufacturer). At any rate, it was at the end of a 4-month tour for COTS that Brun turned up playing the last event at Stockholm’s Concert Hall…an event which was to become special in many aspects for the artist. For starters, guitarist Staffan Johansson, whom plays that instrument on most of her albums, came out to play on several songs. She got perfect backing from backing singer Nina Kinert and from the singers of First Aid Kit on a couple of the songs as well, their presence on stage immediately bringing an added touch to the already magical atmospherics of the concert hall. On top, the instrumentalists (pianist Martin Hederos, cellist Linnea Olson, violinist Anna Rodell, bassist Per Björling, and drummer Erik Nilsson) were joined on stage by accordion and keyboard player Johan Persson and percussionist Ulf Strömqvist…making not for a well-filled stage, but also for a very magical and almost perfect performance. To boot it all, Madrugada’s Swert Höyem “happened” to be around, so he jumped on stage to sing the duet “Lift Me” with Brun. In her own words, “As a musician and an artist I had a perfect experience on this stage. I don’t expect to be 100% presence in body and soul on a night like that, since it can be difficult to feel that considering the circumstances and the expectations of a sold-out room. But on this parrticular night I was totally there! I watched the audience, my fellow musicians, I listened to them and to us, and I could take it all in. I really enjoyed it to the fullest and will never forget it!” Nor will the people that were there that evening, I guess, and thanks to the fact that the evening was recorded, folks into good female singing backed by (occasionally Folk-ish) Pop music can enjoy that evening as well. Besides singing her own material, Brun also brought very different versions of Alphaville’s “Big In Japan” and Cindy Lauper’s “True Colors” (both covers were already done on her studio album COTS). If you feel like audio ain’t enough, you might wanna catch this recording in its DVD form (which, quite evidently, adds the visual aspect). Personally, I was very charmed by this artist’s live album. She has a very quite way of “shush”-ing her vocals, which adds a certain warmth, and I’m looking forward with a certain anticipation to the time that I’ll be able to review her next studio album. After all, live albums are always some kind of “best of” recordings, and as such not eligible for rating! Also, it kinda represents an artist from his/her best side…and I’m eager enough to get to know this artist in all her varied moods! Tony. |