Flower-Powered Artist - October 2007

Susanne Sundfør

Our new Artist of the Month was brought about by a tale of a young girl wanting to be the next Pop diva. With dreams of singing as good as World-renowned divas like Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, our heroine took singing lessons. However slightly askew from what she initially wanted the end result had been, her dream of becoming a diva is now at hand.

Our little Miss FPA is named Susanne Aartun Sundfør (some people spell it as Susanne Sundfor, but mainly because of having a hard time typing the character - ø). Little Susanne was born on March 19, 1986 in a fishing town at the West Coast of Norway, called Haugesund. While most storybook characters like witches and wizards delved in the art of spell casting, Little Susanne followed a musical path. To get started, she attended a music course for children at age six. As a follow up, she trained in various instruments including flute, violin, piano (around age 9) and guitar.

It was like Little Miss Susanne got an invitation to attend Hogwarts when she turned 12, as this was the age she took singing lessons. It was such a surprise when Little Miss Susanne found out that her teacher is a classical-trained opera singer. It wasn’t what she wanted, at first, but quickly became interested in it as it opened up a whole new musical world for her to explore.

After a couple or so years of training, Little Miss Susanne became proficient in singing classical operas, like arias by Mozart. But we all know our little young miss did not stop here… Still seeking for more musical knowledge, she took a specialized musical high-school by age 16. It was not long after when Miss Susanne, no longer so little, started dabbling in songwriting. It is indeed quite a necessity for Miss Susanne to write her own songs in order to succeed in the land of Norway.

It was after finishing High School that our young but not so little heroine, Miss Susanne, moved to Bergen – still in the land of Norway. It was here where she came into contact with Mr. Producer. It was sort of like defeating a mighty dragon when they succeeded in capturing an audience in Norway. Miss Susanne started playing on a lot of venues, which did not go unnoticed as critics and the media laid their serpent-like eyes on her – eyeing her every move. She then moved back to Haugesund after spending two productive years in Bergen.

All is well, as Miss Susanne received much critical acclaim around the time she conquered the crowd when she performed in by:Larm music festival in Tromsø, Norway. Spinning a string of successful successive shows was only the first step. The second step is to record a full-length album. And so they did. The recording process is long and there are more writings that need be done. The crowd is silently waiting.

Alas, a taste of things to come was unleashed to the unsuspecting world by November 29, 2006 as they released the single “Walls” through iTunes. The song “Walls” immediately sky-rocketed to the top of the Norwegian charts and generated a lot more of critical acclaim for our young heroine.

After a year of writing, polishing old songs, and recording they finally came out with a masterpiece of an album. The timing is just right, like it was precisely calculated… The full-length was released on the same day as our heroine’s 21st birthday, March 19 2007. Riding on the single’s success, the album was instantly welcomed with high critical acclaim – also topping the charts upon release. The album’s success spawned a tour all over Norway and surrounding countries, including Germany.

Our successful heroine, Miss Susanne, recently moved to a little town in England called Oxford - hoping to bring her music to new audience. Constantly absorbing musical experiences to further develop as an artist, Miss Susanne is sure to captivate anyone who gives her music a listen.

KGRL is proud to present October 2007's Flower-Powered Artist, Susanne Sundfør. Get to enjoy exclusive materials that we gathered from this groundbreaking, newly-emerging artist. This month is presented with our usual comprehensive full-on feature including: a KGRL exclusive interview (audio/transcribed), Susanne Sundfør CD Review, photos, and a collection of KGRL exclusive live performance videos streamed on-demand. This is but an introduction to our October 2007 Flower-Powered Artist of the Month… May you read, listen, and watch happily ever after!

KGRL Susanne Sundfør Interview

KGRL had a chance to do a comprehensive interview with Norway's groundbreaking artist, Susanne Sundfør. Our heartfelt thanks goes to Susanne Sundfør for making the audio part of the interview possible.

Listen to Susanne Sundfør's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:




Transcription excerpt from the interview:

KGRL: You have a very beautiful voice: intense, strong, vibrant and emotionally captivating. The vibrato and high notes are so pristine and flawless. How do you train your voice?

Susanne Sundfør: Thank you! As I said, I went to a classical-trained singing teacher when I was 12. Until I finished high-school at 19, she was my singing teacher at high-school.

I used to sing all these arias, as I said, especially Mozart who wrote arias with these long coloratura passages. And this made me more able to gain control of my upper register. During that period, when I took singing lessons, I used to warm up my voice with different exercises – singing on different vocals in lower and upper register or practicing different breathing techniques, etc.

Today, I don’t train my voice anymore, which I think is kind of a shame. I really want to start practicing my classical technique again. Now, I just usually practice my voice when I’m on-stage or writing a new song.

KGRL: In which genre do you think you would categorize your music under?

Susanne Sundfør: To put myself in a musical genre is kind of difficult because I don’t categorize the music I make when I write it. So, it’s not like I decide to write in a particular style - although I did that in the beginning when I wrote Walls and I Resign, which are two of the songs in my album. And they are two of the earliest songs that I wrote. I think Walls was the first song I finished that I was pleased with.

When I wrote those songs I wanted to write in Carole King style. But the work I write today, I have no idea what kind of style it is. I guess I’m getting more and more influenced by jazz and contemporary music and art. Before, I was more influenced by the folk era like Buffy Saint-Marie, Joni Mitchell, and Cat Stevens – all those guys (laughs).


-> READ the full transcript along with high/low quality mp3 of the Interview by Clicking Here! <-

Susanne Sundfør CD Review

To an artist, there might not be a better gift than the release of their first album. Such was the case with Susanne Sundfør's debut upon its release on her 21st birthday, March 19 2007. It probably added luck as the CD whizzed past other artists and landed high in Norwegian charts. Now, I can go ahead and spoil this review by saying how I feel about this album in a few lines or so… but where’s the fun in that? I guess it’s time to get the ball rolling and review the album already.

The album greets the listeners with a warm welcome into Susanne’s magical musical world with the poppy track titled I Resign. This track is one of the first songs written by Susanne when she was 18. While I would personally say that this is one of the weaker tracks in the whole album, it serves its purpose very well as an uplifting and very pleasing introduction - a solid and well-crafted composition that will surely please the pop lovers.

While most albums bring on the catchiest track as the first song, it is the next introductory track that really captured my attention. The Waves, which serves as an introduction to the next track Dear John, is a very emotionally captivating solo piano track. I can’t remember when a solo instrumental, as such, gave me chills. It seamlessly blends in with Dear John, as the ending draws into a crescendo and unleashes a blast by the next track – simply amazing! It is such a truly moving piece and not one word was spoken.

Dear John follows it up and delivers what the introduction track before it promised. The chills just would not let go… The build up is very intense and the delivery is in a perpetual state of perfection. The song ends elegantly with a hanging note, an unreleased tension. Every bit of it is entirely the opposite of the first album track – I Resign, reveling in its astute obscurity. I cannot express in words how powerful and moving these two tracks are. I rarely gush, but when I do there’s a reason for it. “The universe is waiting for just another transformation” - at least for me, it was such a delightful musical transformation.

Walls come in next and it is in the same vein as the first track, I Resign. This track was first released as a single through iTunes and instantly made it up the charts. Incidentally, it’s written around the same time as I Resign – right around the time when Susanne was still searching for her musical identity. Honestly, Walls is another of the weak tracks in the CD. It does indeed offer a very enjoyable listen - the problem lies in the sheer brilliance of the rest of the tracks.

The acoustic guitar-based track, Gravity, comes in next. This song showcases Susanne’s operatic singing. The vocal work is top-notch with pristine vibrato and flawless high notes – with emphasis on the chill-inducing, jaw-dropping sustained final high notes. The guitar playing is also excellent. Needless to say, Gravity will pull you back in for countless re-listens and will never let go.

Moments comes in next as the piano counterpart of Gravity. The song is as operatic in nature as the former. The vocal work, while still superb, is a bit more laid back than in Gravity. The Dance comes in next and delivers quite an intense surge of adrenaline. While it doesn’t belong in the genre of rock, I would say this is the heaviest track in the CD. From the masterful guitar introduction to the point where the orchestra booms in – the song manages to bring the listener higher and higher into that sweet spot in musical nirvana. This one is truly an outstanding track.

The next track, titled Morocco, features a duet with Odd Martin Skålnes. This song sounds like it came from a movie soundtrack – complete with vivid imagery of a bright orange sunset. Duly restrained vocals in perfect harmony envelop the track, wonderfully complementing the Moroccan-inspired background music.

Wallowing in sorrow and despair, the melancholic Torn To Pieces steadies the pace with its simplistic arrangement - delicately played and sung. Torn To Pieces seamlessly transitions to the next track, which is hands down my personal favorite – Day Of The Titans. And here I thought the album cannot possibly deliver another heavy-hitter – I’m glad to be proven wrong. The first listen to this track left me completely speechless. Everything from the instrumentation to the signal-processed effects down to the flawless and haunting vocal work screams of perfection. The track makes real good use of the band – effectively highlighting the mood.

Totally jaw-dropping vocal prowess by Susanne is in display in the short but intensely moving work of art, After You Left. The staccato played piano accompaniment serves to enhance the quirkiness of the song itself. All this quirkiness transforms gracefully when played live with an orchestra. Don’t just stare at my writing after reading this review, go and check that jaw-dropping rendition of After You Left with KORK Orchestra in our video section below (there's also an exclusively shot video of the band version of the song down there!). This track is just the perfect way to end the album proper with its sense of closure – giving just enough time afterwards to pick up your jaw from the floor before the reprise of The Dance. The hidden track, an instrumental version of The Dance is a joy to listen to – or perhaps I can imagine some folks trying to fill in the vocals.

I have no idea how much I used the word perfect in this review... nor will I go back to count them while writing this conclusion, but the situation warrants the use of it wherever that word landed on. The whole album, despite my mention of relatively weak tracks, is nothing short of phenomenal.

There are no signs of a US/UK CD release yet at this time for the original recording, but Susanne is planning to re-record the whole album solo (without the band) for the rest of the world. It’s a very interesting project and I can’t wait to hear what she makes of the original materials. If you ever think of yourself as a music lover, don’t think twice – the import is very much worth it. Personally, there are two things I consider the highlight releases of this year: Harry Potter’s last and the release of Susanne Sundfør’s album.

Susanne Sundfør - Buy It Now - Import (Click Here)!

Tracklist:

I Resign
The Waves
Dear John
Walls
Gravity
Moments
The Dance
Morocco
Torn To Pieces
Day Of The Titans
After You Left
Hidden Track: The Dance (Instrumental)

KGRL Susanne Sundfør Photos

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KGRL Susanne Sundfør Videos

KGRL proudly presents: Susanne Sundfør live videos. Susanne Sundfør was very kind enough to provide KGRL a handful of live performance recordings. The bottom 3 videos were recorded exclusively for this feature. The streams can be viewed using our embedded flash player. We do hope you enjoy these wonderful videos!

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After You Left
With KORK Orchestra @ Rockefeller - 04.19.07



Untitled (New Unfinished Song!)
The Spot-Festival Denmark - 06.01.07

After You Left (Band Version)

I Resign

Moments