Most Developed Yet: Ten Love Songs Is Wonderful Susanne Sundfor!

The Good: Good lyrics, Wonderful lyrics, Most of the instrumental accompaniment is cool
The Bad: Short! Awkward album assembly
The Basics: On her latest album, Susanne Sundfor creates Ten Love Songs that hold up remarkably well . . . even if the album order is sometimes odd!


When I take on a musical Artist Of The Month, eventually, I move toward an inevitable judgment: would I recommend listeners tune in to the works of the artist? My July 2015 Artist Of The Month is Susanne Sundfor and I have been on the fence about her. After a strong debut (reviewed here!), I found myself very unimpressed by The Silicone Veil (reviewed here!). With her latest album, Ten Love Songs, though, I am definitely falling into the camp of "listen to this artist!" I'm discovering that Susanne Sundfor does not release a lot of music at any one time; her albums are short. Ten Love Songs is fairly well-developed in its sound, but it is very short and the album order is somewhat baffling.

Ten Love Songs is a collection of ten interesting and good songs (it was one of the harder albums in recent memory to pick a weak track from!), but the order they are placed in makes for a more unsettling than compelling listening experience. The song "Accelerate" is followed by "Fade Away" and "Fade Away" uses a virtually identical bassline/percussion programming so the songs blend together. And after the loud, fast, energetic "Fade Away" the album hits a wall with the almost-acoustic opening to "Silencer." The album is centered around "Memorial," which is a long piece that evolves from a somewhat standard pop number into a classical/orchestral song. It's interesting, but it feels like the product of a very different album from the one containing "Kamikaze" and "Trust Me." That said, it still is a collection of singles worth investing the time in.

With only ten tracks, occupying forty-seven minutes on c.d., Ten Love Songs is short, but it is the clear, distinct creative vision of Susanne Sundfor. Sundfor wrote all of the lyrics for the songs and she composed the music for the tracks as well. As is her fashion, Sundfor provides all the main vocals and she plays instruments on each of the songs. At this point in her career, Sunfor is involved with producing her own works and she is the sole producer on six of the songs and a co-producer on the remaining four. Ten Love Songs is very much her intended musical vision.

And it is good. Instrumentally, Ten Love Songs is very ambitious. Despite "Fade Away" starting out in a way that sounds virtually identical to the track before it (and "Delirious" using a similarly-produced beat later on the album), the musical development on Ten Love Songs is impressive. "Delirious" blends keyboards, percussion and overlapping vocal tracks to accomplish exactly what it intends. Similarly, "Kamikaze" has moments of instrumental cacophany that perfectly embody the song's goals. "Slowly" and "Silencer" both use keyboards and programmed percussion to make for delightful, almost-1980's sounding, pop songs.

Vocally, Ten Love Songs has Susanne Sundfor at the top of her game. Sundfor has clear vocals and seems to effortlessly traverse the alto and soprano registers, all the while maintaining a level of articulation that makes every one of her lines clear and emotive. Sundfor is hypnotic with the way she uses her backing vocals to harmonize with her melodies on "Slowly" and Ten Love Songs does not make the mistake of ever producing the instrumental accompaniment to overwhelm the vocals.

On the lyrical front, Sundfor illustrates a real talent for musical storytelling on Ten Love Songs. First off, Susanne Sundfor has a wonderful sense of diction and an impressive ability to use imagery in her songs. With lines like "Here I stand with the gun in my hand / Waiting for the water to calm / The moonlight can barely paint / An aquarelle of coral blue and red / Like the colours / Of your lover's / Pretty eyes and hair" ("Silencer"), Sundfor sets herself apart from her contemporaries.

Susanne Sundfor's origins are in the folk tradition and on Ten Love Songs, she combines the lyrical sensibilities of a folk singer with the instrumental accompaniment of a techno-pop artist. Sunfor still sings musical storysongs with a strong, clear protagonist and intriguing imagery, like when she sings "Many people will get hurt / Take your time and I'll finish your dessert / Don't look people right in the eyes / If you can, you can / Wars erupting like volcanoes / Blood streaming down the walls / It's out of our hands, so baby let go" ("Accelerate") but she pairs the lines with more aggressive and expressive instrumental accompaniment on Ten Love Songs. Sundfor makes it work.

Even repetition does not hurt Susanne Sunfor. On "Trust Me," Sundfor repeats many of the same lines, but she creates a ponderous, heartwrenching mood that perfectly fits her lines "Nothing’s ever easy, when you take ecstasy / All you do is please me, all you do is tease me / You cannot erase me, you cannot replace me / Like they do in the movies, like they do in the movies." Finding that type of balance is a tough thing, but Sundfor creates musical themes and plays them out wonderfully on songs like "Trust Me."

Ten Love Songs shows real growth and creative mastery for Susanne Sundfor and with progress like this, it is surprising her works have not yet jumped to the U.S. to become mainstream hits here!

The best track is "Accelerate," the low point is probably "Darlings" if for no other reason than every song after it on the album is better than the album's opener. It's still not a bad song, though!

For other 2015 album releases, please check out my reviews of:
Star Wars - Wilco
Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Nightwish
The Way It Feels - Heather Nova
Emerald - Dar Williams

7/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Indistinct Sundfor: The Silicone Veil Disappoints.

The Good: Good lyrics, Moments of voice
The Bad: Short, Instrumentally indistinct, Produced vocals
The Basics: On her third album, Susanne Sundfor goes for a bigger sound, but the result is that The Silicone Veil contains far less distinct melodies than on her earlier works.


As I explore the musical works of Susanne Sundfor, I find myself leaping forward. After listening to her debut album (reviewed here!), I was not able to get in some of her follow-ups. So, today I've been listening to The Silicone Veil (Sundfor's third album) in heavy rotation. Unfortunately, the leap between Sundfor's debut and her third album, the musical artist went in a very different direction. Instead of being piano-driven pop, The Silicone Veil is much more produced and electronic sounding.

The Silicone Veil falls more into a category of albums I lump together as indistinct. "Indistinct" albums are ones where the single tracks blend together without any of the songs standing out as solidly different from the others. While the vocals and overall sound reminded me some of Bat For Lashes's Two Suns (reviewed here!), none of the tracks on The Silicone Veil are nearly so sharp or distinctive.

With only ten tracks, clocking out at 44:25, The Silicone Veil is very short, but it represents the creative vision of Susanne Sundfor. Sundfor wrote all of the songs, provides the vocals, and plays keyboards on the songs. The only creative aspect Sundfor was not credited with is producing the album. Given that she was still working with Lars Horntvedt after five years, one assumes she was comfortable with the way he produced her tracks and album.

Vocally, The Silicone Veil represents a less ambitious approach than her prior albums. Instead of illustrating her full range, on The Silicone Veil, Susanne Sundfor explores her middle and lower registers. There are few moments that Sundfor approaches her limits in the soprano register. As well, there are fewer musical moments where Sundfor attempts to hold notes longer and be as expressive with her voice.

Instrumentally, The Silicone Veil represents Sundfor's clear departure from recognizable tunes and clear instrumentation. The Silicone Veil sounds more programmed and produced than anything that would be played. The tunes are moody and dense, as opposed to having clear melodies that accent the vocals and lyrics Sundfor is singing.

On the lyrical front, Sundfor once again excels. With lines like "Save me from his menace / What he does is a venial sin / He is a god within / Oh, save me from his menace / He peeled off every vein i had / 'Till there was nothing left / But a bloodless heart" ("Among Us"), Sundfor illustrates a stronger sense of diction, imagery and mood than most contemporary artists. Alas, despite the relative quality of Sundfor's lyrics, on The Silicone Veil, her lines are produced over by the instrumental accompaniment.

Ultimately, after twelve spinnings of The Silicone Veil, I found it to be mostly auditory mush and an album that did not hold up well. Despite my disappointment with the album overall, I looked into the music videos produced for the album. "The Silicone Veil" has one of the most horrific and troubling music videos I have ever watched; I do not recommend it, nor do I recommend the album.

The best track is "Rome," the rest of the album is pretty much one blend.

For works by other, former, Artists Of The Month, please check out my reviews of:
Any Day Now - Joan Baez
Vespertine - Bjork
Britney Jean (Deluxe) - Britney Spears

4/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Susanne Sundfor Is My July Artist Of The Month!

The Good: Good voice, Distinct instrumental accompaniment, Most of the lyrics
The Bad: Frequently repetitive (hypnotically so!), Occasionally mediocre rhyme.
The Basics: A strong debut, Susanne Sundfor is surprising in that it did not lead to the artist becoming a household name worldwide!


I have a friend who has fallen into and out of my life over the last decade and whenever we reconnect, I try to figure out if we have anything in common to base a friendship on anymore. One of the elements of her personality that always attracted me to her was her creativity and musical talent. She is an incredible musical artist in her own right and she has an eclectic musical taste, much of which was alien to me before she came into my life. She was the one who had me listening to Imogen Heap's Speak For Yourself (reviewed here!) long before most Americans had any idea who she was. On my last introduction to her, when I asked her about music, she insisted that I had to listen to the works of Susanne Sundfor. As I have found myself thinking of her lately, I figured it was a good time to check into her recommendation and I've decided to immerse myself in the music of Susanne Sundfor this month. Susanne Sundfor is my July Artist Of The Month!

I'm starting my exploration of the music of Susanne Sundfor with her self-titled debut album. Susanne Sundfor was released in 2007 and was a modest hit in Norway, but did not seem to jump the pond. In fact, it seems - from her current touring schedule - that Sundfor has not had much market penetration outside of Europe. In some ways, it is unsurprising that Susanne Sundfor was not a huge success in the U.S. when it was released; American radio was innundated with hip-hop, dance and rap at the time and the debut of Susanne Sundfor is decidedly not that.

With eleven songs, clocking out at 50:06, Susanne Sundfor is very much the creation of musical artist Susanne Sundfor. Sundfor wrote the music and lyrics to all eleven songs. She composed the instrumental version of "The Dance" that is attached to the final track ("After You Left") and she provides all of the lead vocals on Susanne Sundfor. Sundfor has a duet on Susanne Sundfor with Odd Martin Skalnes on the song "Morocco," but on the rest of the album she is on her own vocally. Sundfor plays her own piano; the only creative aspect she is not credited with on Susanne Sundfor is producing the album. Lars Horntvedt produced the album and, given that it is a debut album, it is unsurprising that Sundfor did not produce the album.

Susanne Sundfor is a piano-driven alternative-pop album. The tracks are almost all keyboard-driven ballads that have Sundfor pounding on her piano as she sings her songs. The vocals balance the melodic piano pieces and while the piano drives the album, songs like "Gravity" include folk-like guitar strummings to carry the harmony to Sundfor's vocals.

As for the vocals, Susanne Sundfor has pretty incredible vocal range. She transitions from alto to soprano registers with an apparent effortless quality. She impressively balances long, high note holding with quick, articulate stanzas. Throughout Susanne Sundfor, she makes sure that the lyrics may be clearly heard. Sundfor's melodic voice overshadows the instrumental accompaniment and that ensures the lyrics are given their appropriate priority in the songs.

It was unsurprising to me that "Walls" became one of the two hits for Susanne Sundfor off her debut, not just because it has the most full instrumental accompaniment on the song or because Sundfor's vocals are reminiscent at times of Joni Mitchell. Instead, "Walls" has an incredible and passionate sense of poetry to it. Anyone who has suffered from breakups, depression, isolation and gotten through them can empathize with Sundfor singing "But I guess I'm alright, I guess I'm fine, / I think sunshine will treat me kind, / but now I'm feeling kind of locked up in this house of mine, / 'cause these walls are killing me, / killing me when I am down" ("Walls").

For someone so young, Susanne Sundfor is incredibly articulate and insightful on Susanne Sundfor. With lines like "I've seen blood on hands of an innocent nation / I've seen endless war and endless desperation / Professors are patiently observing / Just another generation / Oh, this is the answer I am giving you / I am honest when I say that I love you, but / It doesn't matter / It doesn't matter / If I should ever turn away from you" ("Dear John"), Susanne Sundfor illustrates a more impressive level of diction and emotional honesty than most of the American pop stars who were on the rise when Susanne Sundfor was released!

Balancing between vignettes of musical storytelling and commentary on relationships, Susanne Sundfor is lyrically distinctive for the sense of imagery that Sundfor employs. Sundfor paints a very vivid picture with her poetics on songs like "Gravity" when she sings "Your eyes are greener than ever / But you are as empty as the bottle of wine you've already out / Your bed is where you take cover / And you want to wash your clothes."

Ultimately, Susanne Sundfor is an intriguing debut and, if it is any indication, I am off to a fascinating month studying an interesting musical artist who, at her worst, is engaging and eminently listenable.

The best track is "Walls," the low point is the instrumental version of "The Dance."

For works by other, former, Artists Of The Month, please check out my reviews of:
"Jackie's Strength" (single) - Tori Amos
The Beginning Of Survival - Joni Mitchell
50 Greatest Hits - Reba McEntire

6.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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