Susanne Sundfør - "Ten Love Songs"

Seen quite a bit of discussion about this in various threads but I think it deserves one of its own because it is quickly becoming one of my favourites of the year.

Every time I try to describe this album to people I keep ending up on variations of "goth Abba." The songwriting is really melodic and hook-driven but the production is a mix of industrial disco and lush orchestral arrangements. I'm reminded of Kleerup and Robyn's "With Every Heartbeat" and the first Goldfrapp album as much as Kraftwerk and Front 242 in the arrangements. I love Sundfør's voice too - its really versatile, going from intimidating and stern on songs like "Delirious" and then being soft and vulnerable on "Slowly", and the way she works with (if not against) the lyrics reminds me of Curve's Toni Halliday or Cardigans' Nina Persson before she started to sound like a country artist. It's basically an expensive-sounding grungey Italo disco album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSB_PcBW3k

Yeah, this album is fantastic. Only listened to it a couple of times but it's already one of my favourite albums of the year.

Memorial is the only song I wasn't totally sold on. Not sure if she quite pulls off what she was going for.

this is so good

I no longer care if Robyn puts out another album, or if Bertine Zetlitz's new one turns out to be crap, because this exists.

"Memorial" is like "The Winner Takes It All" raised to unbearably painful levels. Huge punch in the gut. Song of the year, except when it's "Accelerate".

Oh, and "Slowly". Oh my god, "Slowly".

Fade Away could be song of the year. Was not sure if Memorial needed to be that long at first but now I am... the way she sings the chorus at the end gives me shivers.

Have had Fade Away in my head for weeks. This pushes so many of my buttons - John Carpenter vibe of Delirious, Valerie Dore Italo balladry on Slowly, love the production, so many hooks - current favourite album for sure.

this album is absolutely amazing
the microwave ping halfway through fade away is a personal highlight

"insects" doesn't get enough love though it is the clear standout and currently my song of the year

seeing her in may, should be amazing

I was sceptical about all this at first, but it really is a fantastic album, so lush and detailed. "Kamikaze" -> "Memorial" -> "Delirious" -> "Slowly" is a perfect sequence.

Is there much writing about this album? I recall a short but rapturous review in the Grauniad but I'd be interested in reading more reviews if they're around

There's a review list on wiki and some more out there.. not sure about the tumblr et al suspects.. I think some ilxors should do their part.

The "ABBA w/ heavy eyeliner" quicktake writes itself. The Guardian, Mojo (print edn), Uncut, The Quietus, The 405, Music OMH have had their say.

Yeah I checked metacritic and there were only 6 reviews (89% though so all very +ve)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iItgZgbw1gI

There's a review list on wiki and some more out there.. not sure about the tumblr et al suspects.. I think some ilxors should do their part.

― abcfsk, Wednesday, 8 April 2015 23:54 (Yesterday) Permalink

believe me, I would love to be able to

also not sure what you mean about "the tumblr et al suspects" but w/e

I just mean there are some long form writers on tumblr and I don't know if there's any SS stuff of note up.

the jukebox wrote on "delirious" if that counts: http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=15080

Album of the year for me, album of the past couple years probably. This kind of ambition is rare and actually pulling it off is even more rare.

I would love to see some longform writing on this too, I thought there was a Pitchfork review but I can't find it so I must have dreamed it.

Pitchfork, and lots of other review sites, have barely made mention of her.

Who do we ultimately have to blame for so many Scandinavian pop singers sounding so *diffident* these days? A lot of these would be great songs but that mopey wet delivery just kills them.

this album must be getting written about somewhere--it's currently rateyourmusic's #9 album of 2015

A lot of these would be great songs but that mopey wet delivery just kills them.

I could not disagree more strongly.

Yeah that's the most wrong thing ever written on ilxor.

Greatest vocalist among scando pop stars atm by far.

you mean Lykke Li? i agree

great record

Honestly, this is one of my favourite albums ever.

The quiet songs are weaker here imo

I listened to this again and I think diffident was the wrong word, but she shares with Lykke Li this very widescreen croon that makes these songs feel so much less intimate and human than they should, it sweeps but it leaves me completely cold. It's the same thing that puts me off Lana Del Rey.

But that's equally wrong, she has a very specific delivery, a raw, human virtuosity and balls-out-ness more similar to early kate bush than someone like lykke li.

Florence sprung to mind most on my couple of listens so far

Her higher register is much more enjoyable, but really a "raw, human virtuosity and balls-out-ness" is the exact opposite of what I hear. I hear broad brush strokes, whereas with Kate I hang on every word.

Florence is particularly harsh though.

I kind of agree with Matt (I wouldn't say mopey, but a little detached?) but it honestly doesn't bother me at all. I love Lana, too. I think both Lana and Susanne do heroic scale music and while they both keep up vocally it's maybe difficult to get intense and intimate as well, idk. We can't all be Kate Bush.

I like Lana and can kind of hear similarities on some of the slower songs but I think the range, control and ability to sell a line put her much closer to Agnetha Faltskog territory, which is as about as high as praise gets imo. I hear something new in her delivery almost every time I listen to the album.

It's a phenomenal record and probably one of my two or three favourites this decade.

As a fan of Lykke Li, this is miles better both in terms of ~songcraft~ and delivery. On something like "Slowly" Lykke Li would sound strained and contrived and reaching for emotion, whereas Sundfør sounds much rawer, more honest and open. I think this album really works because there's a sense of committed earnestness to the performance of the songs, and while I can see how that element of theatricality could be off-putting, the mix of grandiosity and vulnerability is what holds this album together and makes it so great.

currently so obsessed with "kamikaze"

A-HA-A

good song but i hate it when she prounounce the word as "kamika-tsee"

I wrote the five-star Guardian review. Had never heard her before, and wasn't expecting much. But it just blew me away. It seemed so fantastically ambitious in its formalism: there's a real streak of classisism in it, but equally it doesn't just dwell on cliches. Brilliant record.

Still caning this...quite surprised at its longevity, the only song I'm getting fed up of is "Accelerate".

the classical/pop tug of war reminds me of seili by jenni vartiainen

this left me cold a month or so ago - it's

this left me cold a month or so ago - it's quite an edifice - but really clicked today.

It's heartstoppingly good
Can't wait to see her next month

Had a chance to listen to it start to finish on a road trip today. Felt almost symphonic, the way the moods and rhythms ebbed and flowed.

Kind of drops off for me after "Memorial," at least right now

this record rules

it is dissolving my hangover rn

Seeing her TONIGHT!

Susanne was really great, everyone in the room was blown away by the power and emotion in her voice. She's such a powerful performer that's it's a little jarring to see how charming, personable, and even funny she was between songs. The songs from the new album all sounded gorgeous. She only played Slowly and Darlings from 10 Love Songs, but they were showstoppers.

My one complaint was that it was a little hard for 5'9" me to see her over the tall, predominantly Scandinavian crowd

Jealous that she sang "slowly". Wasn't on the Glasgow setlist. Agree though that the power and timbre of her voice are spine tingling at times.

omg yes slowly

My one complaint was that it was a little hard for 5'9" me to see her over the tall, predominantly Scandinavian crowd

same!!!!

Wow you got "Slowly" and "Darlings"! We only got "Trust Me", which is the one song I don't adore on TLS.

My bad, it wasn't Darlings, it was Trust Me

I thought it was an appropriately dramatic closer, though. It helped that the piano player/clarinetist she was playing with was incredible

She was strictly solo in Toronto - I have to say, "Mantra" sounded way better on keyboards than acoustic guitar

I was sort of surprised at how close she came to selling out a decent-size venue considering I don't believe her albums have ever gotten a physical release here

I liked how Anja is always playing Music for People in Trouble in Joachim Trier's Thelma. Helped clarify a deliberately underwritten character.

I sprung for the vinyl copy of the record and, it's not cheap, but it's one of the most beautifully packaged records I've bought in years

i'm as bitey as a shark

I can't unhear this btw, but it makes me so happy anyway

More European dates for 2018 added:
http://bellaunion.com/2017/12/susanne-sundfor-announces-eu-dates-for-2018/

I also bought the vinyl edition recently. The URL on the download card doesn't seem to be correct. Has anyone else been more successful?

I had no trouble with my download url

Thanks, got it now. The issue was an http/https mix up on my part.

Just got tickets for the Manchester show in March.

This album has gone from "meh" to "oh my god, this is fucking awesome" over the months. It's a beautiful record that deserves as much attention as the last one, even if it is a very different (and less immediate) record.

^^ yeah songwriting is still top notch, and there probably aren't ten better singers than Susanne in pop music

I prefer it over even Ten Love Songs. I admired that album's audacity but the songwriting is better here. It's really a feat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIx9snSep88

making it your own, great artist

so within a very short time, i learned about the lady who Bonnie Prince has covered at album length via another thread, and, reading this thread, mistook her for this lady. i am listening to ten love songs now and surely will be purchasing the physical version, and will check out susanna later today. has anyone made the same mistake? likes 'em both? likes one but not the other?

who is this other artist?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_Wallumrød

New one is sounding gorgeous today. Shift brings to mind Emiliana Torrini’s sparse “Fisherman’s Woman’ album, which is a gem

that is actually a perfect analogy for why the new one was disappointing because "Telepathy" is so far and away the best thing Emiliana Torrini has ever done

<3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uRyOu4YV4

just came here post that stanm. i was lucky enough to be at that concert, the whole thing was filmed, so maybe there's more to come? lovely venue, great acoustics, and she was absolutely amazing from start to finish.

Jesus Christ. She's ridiculous.

otm

that performance of 'Undercover' is breathtaking

New (?) radio doc on SS and Oslo:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bkr5nz

Not sure if it's available outside UK.

Amazingly, it's available in the US

it's even available in Europe! Is this the soft brexit then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHKcvDUtxp8

(= new song, performed on a Norwegian awards show at the end of October)

waiting for her own arrangement on that to be honest, feels a little generic movie sound track to me. :-/

Same show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1kdI0IygAE

that performance of Undercover is particularly brilliant isn't it, the things she does with her voice 2.50 onwards - not just a technical skill of voice mastery but the way she really sells the sense of loneliness and longing at the song's core

Wow, it's stunning!

she's on Mercury Rev's new album (a tribute to Bobbie Gentry’s 1968 The Delta Sweete) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbGxxIsa5k

“Reincarnation” live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBuhRDL_hGY

Music For People In Trouble - Live from The Barbican out next month.

Out now! 10-minute "Undercover" comes with a bass solo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st0i1we9P7s

Kind of wish she had done one of these for Ten Love Songs instead, the arrangements on MFPIT live don't depart that much from the album versions.

Lovely song. Part of the chorus sounded a lot like another tune I couldn't put my finger on at first. I finally realized that it employs a similar melody to Killing Me Softly's "And so I came to see him, to listen for a while…"

Yeah this feels a bit redundant - good vocal performance but I can't see me ever reaching for it over the actual album

I'm glad to have these distended versions, and to have a document of her astonishing live vocals.

i think the vocals in StanM's Youtube link upthread are better than anything on this album

New song!

https://open.spotify.com/album/4Pz0crD94099fDlhAc2eA3?si=sruksQ1mQP2NRYpwDevIZw

i like this more than a lot of the last album!

I like it
Thought it was a cover of 'Na na na' by The Knife for a second or two

5-track EP Self Portrait, the soundtrack to the Norwegian documentary Selvportrett, is up on Spotify. It includes “When The Lord”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWFCkcdmZI