Stina Nordenstam

Wow it's eight years since Dynamite. That was a fucking formative record for me in retrospect.

On another note, Stina is one of the few artists where I often have to emotionally prepare myself to listen to.

When I visited the UK about seven years ago, this was one of the things I specifically searched out (The Vulgar Boatmen's Opposite Sex being the other). I have listened to it once, maybe twice the whole way through. If I didn't go all that way for it, I'd have sold it a long time ago. Personally, I think it lacks the production that made her next one so special. The songs are kinda, eh. Download it.

and she closed her eyes

it took me a long time to warm to This is; I was disappointed when it came out, but when I went back to it a year later with fresh ears I found more to like. It's much more pop in many ways. I didn't even realize until yesterday that was Brett Anderson on it.

(the other one is now taken down)

Thanks

I'm tempted to hear the new album now, but I'm going to wait until I buy it. I'm going to buy it, regardless, but I've realized how unhappy I am when all the albums I want to buy I've already heard. There's just no excitement in that. I trust, of course, that I'll be able to find the album when it's out... maybe I'll just bring my Stina list to Scratch and get them to order everything.

http://www.v2music.com/site/audioVideo.asp?avType=11

(scroll down to "S")

The combo of "From Caymen Islands With Love" and "The Morning Belongs To The Night" is particularly affecting.

The arrangements on the album are spectacular, clearly the best in her career so far. The string quartet pieces are definitely one of the main attractions for me, it's almost as if she is reinventing "Dynamite" in neoclassical form.

Derrick it is on Stina's own label, and is being distributed by V2 in Europe. No North American release planned as far as I know.

"The arrangements on the album are spectacular, clearly the best in her career so far. The string quartet pieces are definitely one of the main attractions for me, it's almost as if she is reinventing "Dynamite" in neoclassical form. "

What I find interesting is that despite this reinvention it still sounds a lot like Dynamite (only without such an explicit post-punk vibe) or a more melodic, big budget version of People Are Strange - you'd think that with such a strong string quartet presence and so many jazz affectations the music would sound much closer to, say, the fuller pieces on And She Closed Her Eyes, but i think in the last ten years Stina's honed her arranging skills into such a distinct and purposeful weapon that she now rarely if ever sounds like she's performing in a particular style or genre.

Also, the press release says this is an upbeat record but in truth it is, as one would expect from Stina, a deliciously melancholy affair.

Dynamite did this too, for all its grinding, and my favourite tracks on that album are similarly the ones that feel like they could go on forever - the title track, "Almost A Smile', "CQD", "Down Desire Avenue". Listening to that album agian, what leaps out at me right now is how the guitar is actually rarely particularly physical, for all its buzziness: it's the grain and the texture of that dirty guitar sound that Stina's focused on. The guitar is actually the most "soundscape" like aspect of the music, allowing the strings and the slow-groove rhythms to give the songs body and momentum. I think this is part of what makes them sound so compelling - the songs sound like they've been sculpted out of raw material, rough-hewn rock. The World Is Saved shares that feel, although it's softer, perhaps earth and clay.

That's exactly why I feel Dynamite is the more pertinent comparison for The World Is Saved, even though it's soft-focus and easy on the ear like This Is...: most of the time, when the melody and the voice and the instruments all gel, there's a real sense of musical unity, whereas with This Is... youwere always aware of the disparate components to each song. Which I suppose goes back to what you were saying about Stina's arrangement skillz - I can't remember if she produced Dynamite or not? Even the most This Is...-esque song on The World Is Saved, "Butterfly", sounds very natural, while the best songs - "Parliament Square", "From Cayman Islands With Love" just take that to another level.

I actually expected This Is... to be more pop than it turned out to be (as I only got it about a month ago, if that) - "Lori Glory" is a big exception obviously.

Yeah "On Falling" is marvellous, although I think I probably adore everything except the last track (and even then I like it).

I think The World Is Saved will actually help me fall in love properly with This Is - I think my first few listens to the latter were fringed with nervousness that Stina seemed to be moving away definitively from the things I loved in her earlier work, whereas now I can appreciate it for what it is.

Stina's the indie hangover from my pre-pop days!

Oh, you have to hear And She Closed Her Eyes. If you find "Lory Glory" unusual wait till you hear her do upbeat love songs! "Hopefully Yours" and "Something Nice" - both really beautiful. It's a gorgeous record actually, a bit jazzy and folky but not as slight and genre-bound as Memories of a Colour. I can understand why it's a lot of people's favourite. The hushed harmonies in "When Debbie's Back From Texas" alone are enough to die for.

I just listened to This Is and it sounded solidly great for the first time. I like it when ILX can change my reactions like that.

Stina's delivery of her lyrics has always been exquisite - possibly something to do with the natural pitch of her voice being one which is more normally associated with drama and high emotion, but the timbre being very deadpan and low-key. I can't think of anyone else who does deadpan in such a high pitch.

Speaking of vaguely elfin-sounding divas: has Anja Garbarek done anything since Smiling and Waving?