Stina Nordenstam

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well? should i like her stuff? why? why not? which ones?

― gareth, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

My absolute favourite is her cover album People Are Strange. Some amazing covers of Sailing, Bird on a Wire and Purple Rain. My personal favourite is I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair. Apparently an old folk song, one of the fairy-tale kind. Her child voice which is a little like Rickie Lee Jones though less expressive and much darker is perfect for that gloomy beautiful song. I also liked Dynamite. The new one is more of the same and I got a little bored by her voice. It takes alot of stamina to sit through an entire album of hers with her own material. Very depressive and often not too varied musically.

― alex in mainhattan, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I don't like People Are Strange so much because it turns Stina's qualities into a semi-gimmick ie. take song, add dark dirgey ramshackle arrangements plus doped-out Rickie Lee Jones vocals, stir and voila! Edgy, artistic cover versions (I've avoided the Cat Power release for fear of the same). Although that said, a lot of it is pretty good, particularly the rocking "I Dream Of Jeanie".

Dynamite is great, though. The combination of Stina's eerie vocals with such gritty, menacing arrangements (think post-punk similar to P.I.L.'s second album, but with most of the dub replaced by industrial found sound, subtle beats and shrill string quartets, and all slowed down to funeral procession speed) is fantastically chilling. Due to this thread I'm listening to it again, and bloody hell it's great.

Her lyrics and stories are excellently blunt and bloodless too - her indifference when she sings "I'll only smile the night I meet the man with the gun" is more goth than just about anything. (goth as a compliment, all you GOFF-HATAXoRs)

As for the earlier jazz-pop, leave it until after Dynamite - a lot of it is very good, but I don't know if I would have liked it if I wasn't already attuned to Stina. I haven't heard much of the new album, but I have a strange feeling that it will be much like Dynamite but less scary and/or compelling.

― Tim, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

(covers one is the only one i don't have. i'm still not convinced)

Should you like her stuff? No should about it, just try some audiogalaxied tunes, I'm betting Little Star will be top of the "sort by popularity" list and it's no bad start. I don't really know what sort of stuff you like yet, Gareth. If you hate winsome gurly voiced vocals, then you'll hate it. If you like melodic, jazz/bluesy, often riotous sounds then try it out. There's quite a range of sounds to her albums so at least *I* don't find her samey.

I personally care little for her very first album. New one hasn't really hooked me in yet, which Dynamite did eventually and And She Closed Her Eyes... did immediately.

― Alan Trewartha, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Haven't heard her later stuff, but the involvement of Bert Anderson both intrigues and worries me. I've got her first album which walks the line between twee and threatening just about right, though the jazzy backing does her no favours.

Much better is her collaboration with Greek keyboard behemoth Vangelis, Ask the mountain, which is everything Sigur Ros promised to be but aren't. i.e Ethereal, melodic, light, otherworldly.

― Billy Dods, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

"And She Closed Her Eyes..." is a wonderful record, but it might take some getting used to: first off, she has a love for Vangelis-type Blade Runner soprano sax, which I think is really cool because it's so completely unhip... but it can be borderline schmaltz. She seems really concerned with production and musicianship instead of just being a weird Bjorkish pixie. But that album just sends me, it's the sound of the North... "Memories of a Colour" is just okay, it finds her dwelling in Rickie Lee territory a little too much.

― Andy, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I've been listening to And She Closed Her Eyes lately and damn, it's fantastic.

― derrick (derrick), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 14:44 (9 years ago) Permalink

she has a new one out?!!! whoopee!
also seek "to the sea" offa Yello's (yeh, i know but trust me on this one ) yello's "pocket universe" cd or get the cd single w/ 3 mixes of same tune from some collector scum outlet for money. Gorgeous, dark cinematic drum'n'bass tango w/ stina's whisper over the top. one of my all time faves

― bob snoom, Thursday, 19 June 2003 10:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

she also did three or four songs as a soundtrack for some european film (the photographer's wife); apparently this was actually slated to be a golden palominos project but for some reason came out as stina nordenstam/anton fier. I have this if anyone wants a copy, it's impossible to find now.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 19 June 2003 21:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

hey, anton fier? whoa, i know know him as having produced the Grapes Of Wrath's Now and Again album. that's some variety.

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 19 June 2003 21:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

Anton Fier has worked with just about everyone by now although the bulk of his work revolves around the Bill Laswell axis, most of which I don't have any time for. BUT each of the Golden Palominos albums has something to recommend them, I think. Maybe time for a Golden Palominos s/d c or d.

On topic, another vote for People are Strange and And She Closed Her Eyes. I didn't love her last album but I didn't sell it back so it's sitting around waiting to be re-evaluated.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 20 June 2003 02:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

The song she did with Vangelis is also absolutely ESSENTIAL.

I have no idea what it's called, though.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Saturday, 21 June 2003 19:54 (9 years ago) Permalink

She sings on a couple of songs on Mew's Frengers album. Lovely.

― Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 21 June 2003 20:02 (9 years ago) Permalink

Vangelis & Stina Nordenstam - "Ask the Mountains"
from the album Voices (Atlantic, 1996)

And Yello's "To the Sea" is also on Danny Tenaglia's Back to Mine mix. Like bob snoom sez, it's good stuff.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Saturday, 21 June 2003 20:09 (9 years ago) Permalink

I like Dynamite the most because of the way the music works against her tendencies toward ethereality. The combination of those Rickie Lee Jones squawks with scratchy pseudo-industrial post-punk is fascinating.

Haven't heard the new one mind. People Are Strange is good in places but lacking in, um, songs.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 22 June 2003 00:03 (9 years ago) Permalink

Isn't _People Are Strange_ all covers? If so (& I'm pretty sure it is), that's damn harsh, Tim. (smiley)

― David R. (popshots75`), Sunday, 22 June 2003 04:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

David, the explicit strategy of Stina's cover versions is to remove the song from the song and explore what's left, or bring something else to the table. I can see what she's doing and it's frequently quite interesting but also very hard-going in places, like Tilt but with the dark drama replaced by muted self-doubt. Often the problem is that the songs she's chosen aren't strong enough to survive the dismantling she performs on them (eg. well-known standards like "Sailing", "Bird on a Wire" and "Purple Rain" are totally unrecognisable); on Dynamite she writes her own songs with their dismantling in mind, which is why they work so well.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 22 June 2003 05:03 (9 years ago) Permalink

I love both Dynamite and People Are Strange. The latter was my introduction, and it really blew me away in, what, grade 9 i guess? I was especially taken with 'Losesome Road', 'Reason to Believe' and 'I Came So far For Beauty'. For the life of me, I can't recall why I picked it up. I remember looking for her name, quite urgently, and going for the first album I found. Why, I have no clue.

Memories is passable, some good points, but not something i'm that strong on. The latest has yet to hook me at all.

― derrick (derrick), Monday, 23 June 2003 05:38 (9 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Kyle, add this to the long list of things I want to burn off of you NOW!!!

― adaml (adaml), Sunday, 19 October 2003 03:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Hey, you guys. The whispering crowd looking at you askance over at www.seekyoudanger.com want to know why you aren't joining their discussion forum?

― Rory Sullivan, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 11:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

Is that so?

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 11:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Is what how?

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 15:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

6 months pass...

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 16:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

Sorry the picture is so huge!

But yeah, I can't wait for October 11th.....

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 16:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

Finally she is releasing a metal album!

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 17:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

haha I never saw adam's post up above. good thing I didn't sell that yet!

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 17:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

Rumour has it that Pluxus will do a remix on Stina's forthcoming single. No, I'm not kidding.

― Kaiser of Köln (Kaiser of Köln), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 23:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

Really? As a bside, or for the main single mix? The first single should be "Get On With Your Life", I believe.

Also, there is rumored to be an internet radio broadcast of the album in September on www.seekyoudanger.com

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 22 July 2004 01:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

b-side, i guess.

― Kaiser of Köln (Kaiser of Köln), Thursday, 22 July 2004 08:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

That poster is so cool. New Stina = excitement.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 22 July 2004 09:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

I never heard her most recent album - never even saw it in fact. Was it good?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 22 July 2004 09:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

Was that This Is Stina Nordenstam, or have I missed one since? This Is... is very good. It's her big pop album! Well... quiet, introspective pop album. Mitchell Froom produced, I think, and the contrast between his perky electronics and Stina's natural inclinations towards melancholy works a treat. One of the songs is called "Welcome To Happiness", and I've still not worked out whether it's ironic or not, vis a vis the album as a whole.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 22 July 2004 09:31 (8 years ago) Permalink

It's not ironic, Lex. There is an interview somewhere where she mentions it....

"This is" leans more towards pop and lo-fi then most of her work, but it's still really lovely.

Apparently the new album brings back some of the jazzier elements of her first albums.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 22 July 2004 12:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

Apparently the new album brings back some of the jazzier elements of her first albums.

ooooh... i've always been a huge fan of and she closed her eyes, so i hope this is a good thing.

― frankE (frankE), Thursday, 22 July 2004 13:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

the pluxus site, www.pluxemburg.com confirms they did a remix of "Get on with your life"

― Paulr, Monday, 16 August 2004 09:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

fwiw, the Pluxus site posted that same msg back on 7/26 and then mysteriously removed it

― Avi (Avi), Monday, 16 August 2004 10:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

I am in love with her.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 16 August 2004 18:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

But will it be her grime album?

― adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 16 August 2004 18:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

Hopefully I will soon get my hands on her single featuring the Pluxus remix... stay tuned kids, stay tuned!

― Kaiser of Köln (Kaiser of Köln), Thursday, 9 September 2004 16:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

Swedish Radio reportedly has the single and is playing it, but I still can't track down a recording. Official release in 09/15 and it'll be streamed from her site.

― Avi (Avi), Thursday, 9 September 2004 17:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

YES

OH
YES

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 9 September 2004 17:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

I have the single and both the original + the mix are v. good!

― Hanna (Hanna), Thursday, 9 September 2004 18:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

Sharing is caring

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 9 September 2004 18:06 (8 years ago) Permalink

i love stina

― amateur!!st, Thursday, 9 September 2004 18:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'll share it if i remember to bring it home from work tomorrow!

― Hanna (Hanna), Thursday, 9 September 2004 18:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

hurrah!

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 9 September 2004 18:15 (8 years ago) Permalink

i also love stina.

What does she sound like now? Is it really her metal album? mmm...

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 9 September 2004 23:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

From what I have heard and read about the new album, it mixes the lo-fi guitar gloom of "this is" and "dynamite" with hints of jazz and chamber pop.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 10 September 2004 04:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

― Hanna (Hanna), Friday, 10 September 2004 13:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

I said it was a metal album based on the font

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 10 September 2004 13:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 105 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

haha i just started listening to it in the past week again too.

note cold snap in england.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 5 November 2005 15:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

Just dl'd this last week. I really happy she's released a decent album again. I don't know if ten years can ever be "worth the wait", but I'm glad anyway.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Saturday, 5 November 2005 15:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

(I like parts of the previous three, and Memories, but find them a bit tedious the whole way through.)

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Saturday, 5 November 2005 15:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

I came around massively to This Is Stina Nordenstam, which I only managed to find just after The World Is Saved was released, and which sounded very slight in comparison initially. I now fairly love it. But... The World Is Saved is truly exceptional. Especially "Morning Belongs to the Night"!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 5 November 2005 21:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

'This Is' is still my fave by a long ways. 'The World is Saved' is ok, but doesn't hit me quite as much.

― I.M. (I.M.), Saturday, 5 November 2005 23:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

note cold snap in england

It was 18 C here on Wednesday, it's been unusually mild for this time of year.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Saturday, 5 November 2005 23:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

is one of her tracks playing in a current Orange phone advert? if so what's the track?

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 6 November 2005 03:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

joanna newsom "this side of the blue"? her singing on that songs a lot more er restrained than usual

― zappi (joni), Sunday, 6 November 2005 03:39 (7 years ago) Permalink

thanks zappi. i've never heard Newsom.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 6 November 2005 03:41 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Listening to 'People Are Strange' right now; I forget how gorgeous the tempo and pacing is on this album. A wonderfully warm sound, too. 'Like A Swallow', 'Came so Far for Beauty' and especially 'Reason to Believe stand out for me.

― derrick (derrick), Saturday, 31 December 2005 10:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

I think this is her most underrated album, and from time to time I think of it as her best. "Reason to Believe" and "I Dream of Jeannie" are two of the most gorgeous things she's ever produced. It's a less fragile record than And she closed her eyes and seems better-constructed than Dynamite. And few albums can touch it for sheer imaginative deconstruction of other people's songs.

― Myke Weiskopf (Myke Weiskopf), Saturday, 31 December 2005 15:19 (7 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

C-90.

And she closed her eyes
Another Story Girl
Clothe Yourself for the Wind
Crime
Dynamite
First Day in Spring
Get On With Your Life
Greetings from the Old World
His Song (...or at least the first 2:00)
I Dream of Jeannie
Keen Yellow Planet
Little Star
Memories of a Color
Murder in Mairyland Park
Now When I See You
People Are Strange
Proposal
Purple Rain
Reason to Believe
So Lee
Stations
Trainsurfing
When Debbie's Back from Texas
Winter Killing

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Monday, 2 October 2006 23:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

Word is that a new album is expected in 2007.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 04:35 (6 years ago) Permalink

possibly with "as heard on the washing machine ad" all over it.

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 11:34 (6 years ago) Permalink

I can't remember the last time I saw a washing machine ad.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 11:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Finally listening to The World is Saved. That took me long enough.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 4 January 2007 17:16 (6 years ago) Permalink

You're such a Ned.

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 4 January 2007 17:27 (6 years ago) Permalink

it's so right that it seems this thread is always bumped every winter!

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Thursday, 4 January 2007 17:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

You're such a Ned.

Completely!

it's so right that it seems this thread is always bumped every winter!

Yeah, I'll go with that. Even better that today is gray here (it's been mostly sunny all week).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 4 January 2007 17:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

she also sings on one track on the new nine horses ep I think, which is part new stuff, and partially remixes of stuff from the album. I think.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 4 January 2007 20:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

I am a huge, longtime Stina fan, and yet I cannot stand This is.... Am I wrong?
Must say I've always loved This Is... lots more than the apparently universally-adored-on-this-thread Dynamite. That I've always found kinda hard going, for me. But maybe I'm "wrong" as well :)

...Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair. Apparently an old folk song...
Ain't exactly a folk song, allegedly. According to olden chronicles, 'twas written by one Stephen Foster (1826-1864), author of also "Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks At Home" and other popular faves of yore.

― tiit (tiit), Thursday, 4 January 2007 20:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

Nine Horses EP:
http://www.discogs.com/release/799675

Remix of "Wonderful World" duet & "Birds Sing For Their Lives" is Stina solo. Very elegiac, reminds me slightly of Murcof.

― xcixxorx (xcixxorx), Thursday, 4 January 2007 21:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

Reminds slightly of Murcof?!
Oh boy. Must get teh Horses EP then, uhuh.

― tiit (tiit), Thursday, 4 January 2007 22:00 (6 years ago) Permalink

I would love a new Stina album this year.

― Hairy Asshurt (Toaster), Friday, 5 January 2007 11:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

I heard the Knife have covered Stina's "Soon after Christmas" live, has anyone heard it?

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 2 February 2007 08:13 (6 years ago) Permalink

http://www.stinanordenstam.com/ is the new website, soon to be updated. V2 has said there *will* be a new album this year.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 2 February 2007 08:17 (6 years ago) Permalink

'This Is' has always been my fave, followed by the covers record. 'The World is Saved' might even come before 'Dynamite,' though I still think of myself as digging that album.

I'd love to see her collaborate with The Knife. Hmm. . .

― I.M. (I.M.), Friday, 2 February 2007 18:24 (6 years ago) Permalink

Went out and purchased a Fleshquartet album on the strength of some track I heard way back in the day on 120 minutes. Remember loving the track, which may or may not have been called "walk" but not really caring for the album.

― Antony Holt (ant), Friday, 2 February 2007 18:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

I'd love to see her collaborate with The Knife. Hmm. . .

The Knife remix of "Parliament Square" is basically a collab.

― brittle-lemon (brittle-lemon), Saturday, 3 February 2007 12:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

Well, memories of a color may not have that darker edge that makes her later work so good, but give her her due, every artist has to start somewhere, and for my part, i have to say, "another story girl" can still reduce me to tears faster than any other track i've heard from her yet. The woman is a goddamned genius, and she keeps getting better with every new album. My friends have been giving me sideways looks for the 10 years i've been listening to her, but they're just now starting to get into the swing of her music. And what's up with all the "diehard" stina fans not liking "lori glory"? So many posts say that "the great thing about stina, is that she ignores convention, she breaks the rules" yet when she breaks her own rules, they suddenly can't take it. Every post i've read about that track has been negative, not one that i've read so far has said anything good about it, which i think is a shame. Isn't the fact that she is not only gutsy enough to stand against the world, but also against herself, the hallmark of a true artist? I really wonder just how many of her fans can understand her from this perspective. And it's not just ethics, that song is aesthetically, lyrically, rhythmically magical. It's like Bowie, but the sex change worked this time. The warmth, the energy, that rebound inside that song, are a wonderful thing to hear from someone who so clearly lives in a darkened world. If she was your friend, wouldn't you be overjoyed to hear a moment of such brightness, when all else you'd heard showed so little of the sort? Well, that's how it is for me. And god only knows what rabbits she'll pull out of the hat with the next album. Here's to our generation's most misunderstood genius.

― richarquis, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 10:43 (6 years ago) Permalink

"I heard the Knife have covered Stina's "Soon after Christmas" live, has anyone heard it?"

OMG WTF etc. dere internets sort this out now. kthxbye

― Alan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 11:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

i love stina

those understated vox really lend a sense of claustrophobia to the songs - you can really get caught up in her music

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 11:47 (6 years ago) Permalink

oo i found a preview of that parliament sq remix

― Alan, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 12:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

seriously, 'the world is saved' is a total gem. the sort of record i can really sink my teeth into. static and restrained with something really penetrating beneath the surface. is serving as a nice companion record to joy division's 'closer' for me these last weeks.

― Charlie Howard, Saturday, 10 January 2009 02:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

i find it difficult to imagine people having trouble listening to her albums from start to finish. for me they establish an arresting mood very quickly and don't let go from there. they sustain a constant mood for certain, but i think that's pivotal to keeping things measured and compelling throughout.

― Charlie Howard, Saturday, 26 September 2009 11:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

Where's another album already.

― Tim F, Saturday, 26 September 2009 14:19 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ha I was hoping this revive would be announcing such news...

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 26 September 2009 14:28 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ditto ...

― djh, Saturday, 26 September 2009 14:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

OK, my turn here... Hadn't heard a single thing she's done until The World Is Saved finally arrived at the top of my unlistened stack. WTF was my probably in waiting so long...

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 18 June 2010 22:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

WTF was my problem I mean

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 18 June 2010 22:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

she also did three or four songs as a soundtrack for some european film (the photographer's wife); apparently this was actually slated to be a golden palominos project but for some reason came out as stina nordenstam/anton fier. I have this if anyone wants a copy, it's impossible to find now.
― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, June 19, 2003 5:12 PM (7 years ago)

weird that virtually nothing is known about this project aside from speculation based on the cover info. two of the tracks are listed as Descendence remixes and the other as a Microman remix, so I wonder if the original versions are out there somewhere. it's possible that it wasn't meant to be a soundtrack at all and just has a misleadingly cinematic title, cf. the Olivia Tremor Control's Music from the Unrealized Film Script... album.

one film that Stina really did score was Jean Claude, a 2002 Swedish television documentary about a homeless Parisian man. it's interesting (to me) that a few tracks from The World Is Saved ("I'm Staring Out the World", "The World Is Saved", "Morning Belongs to the Night", and the bonus track "Failing to Fly") originally appeared on that soundtrack in slightly unfinished form. while a lot of the rest of the material on The World Is Saved veers toward trip-hop (or fairly modern indie pop, anyways) and has semi-narrative lyrics about adultery and postcards and turning into butterflies, those tracks have always stood out for me as being really organically/classically arranged and lyrically abstract, and I wonder how an entire album of that kind of material — or even a double album with one disc of "I'm Staring at the World" sounding stuff and another of "Butterfly" sounding stuff — would have turned out. brilliant, possibly.

I just wish she'd release the handful of songs from Jean Claude that didn't make it onto the album. "Give Me More of Everything" has a particularly exquisite arrangement of strings and woodwinds and creaking wagon wheels (?) that would've been a highlight on any of her albums. I really just wish she'd put out a new album one of these days, though, even if it's self-released.

― gtforia estfufan (unregistered), Tuesday, 24 May 2011 00:54 (1 year ago) Permalink

People who like those might like a lot of the darker songs on Lhasa's The Living Road album, although Lhasa is pretty much the opposite of Stina vocally.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, January 3, 2005 7:30 AM (6 years ago)

she said in an interview around the time The World Is Saved came out that she rarely listened to music by other singers but that Lhasa was one she enjoyed. one artist who really reminds me of Stina is former Sparklehorse collaborator Sol Seppy, who put out a solo album and EP in 2006. I'm suspicious of reviews that compare other artists to Stina Nordenstam, though. it seems like her name is whipped out almost as lazily as Bjork's to describe any and all "quirky", "mysterious" Scandinavian female singer-songwriters regardless of what their music actually sounds like.

― gtforia estfufan (unregistered), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 01:26 (1 year ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

it's so right that it seems this thread is always bumped every winter!
― lex pretend (lex pretend), Thursday, January 4, 2007 9:30 AM (5 years ago)

Well, still fall here but the time is right. And Memories of a Color is sounding good right this second.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:16 (6 months ago) Permalink

an apt Sol Seppy reference upthread :)

― t**t, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 20:12 (6 months ago) Permalink

miss you boo :-( come out of retirement

― Tim F, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:30 (6 months ago) Permalink

there used to be a tour section on her website which when you clicked it read "Stina don't tour"

― zvookster, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:39 (6 months ago) Permalink

damn it thread bumpers on this

― katherine, Thursday, 1 November 2012 01:17 (6 months ago) Permalink

that said this sol seppy album is kind of amazing

― katherine, Thursday, 1 November 2012 01:17 (6 months ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

I just wish she'd release the handful of songs from Jean Claude that didn't make it onto the album. "Give Me More of Everything" has a particularly exquisite arrangement of strings and woodwinds and creaking wagon wheels (?) that would've been a highlight on any of her albums.

http://sclors.tumblr.com/post/40897837779/give-me-more-of-everything-stina-nordenstam-i

still feel like this is one of the best songs recorded by anyone ever

― ikwikiykwim (unregistered), Friday, 15 February 2013 21:59 (3 months ago) Permalink

the way her voice cracks on "have no favorites at all" is pretty much perfect

― katherine, Sunday, 17 February 2013 18:04 (3 months ago) Permalink

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