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SONATA 666CD
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For Susanna, nothing happens in a vacuum. Every creative act responds to what's come before. And by exploring this dialogue, you can learn new things about ourselves and the world. This idea has inspired the Norwegian artist throughout her near two-decade career. It's behind her unforgettable covers of classic songs and her interpretations of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch. And it found its purest expression on 2020's Baudelaire & Piano, a stripped-back song cycle setting texts from the 19th century French poet's "The Flowers of Evil". In Elevation, its follow-up, Susanna's engagement with Baudelaire's work blossoms into a collaborative enterprise, combining tape, spoken word, and song. The result is a unique musical conversation spanning centuries and disciplines; a "time travelling" project, as Susanna puts it, that moves between creative dimensions. She brings collaborators back into the process, nurturing connections made over a series of Baudelaire & Piano live shows presented in 2020 and 2021. Composer improviser Delphine Dora offers teasing renditions of the original French texts, layering spoken recitation and otherworldly singing in a set of atmospheric vignettes. And tape recorder soundscapes from Stina Stjern -- familiar from Susanna's Hieronymous Bosch project Garden of Earthly Delights (2019) -- frame the album with hiss, hum, and soft fingers of melody, like mist settling on a landscape. These contributions deepen the album's mystery and its evocative power. The result is an engrossing interleaving of sounds and registers; and, as Susanna describes it, "an intuitive and collective ceremony of the ethereal and mystical in life." Elevation features work by American occultist artist Cameron (1922-1995), an adherent of Aleister Crowley's Thelema movement. Her illustrations "Witch Woman", "Pan", and "Danse" adorn the release.
Oslo-based artist Susanna has released music as Susanna and the Magical Orchestra and "just" Susanna since 2004, through labels like Rune Grammofon, ECM Records, and her own outlet SusannaSonata. She has collaborated with artists like Jenny Hval, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and John Paul Jones, highly active with different projects, songwriting/composing, and making personal interpretations of other people's songs.
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LP
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SONATA 666LP
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LP version. 180 gram clear vinyl. For Susanna, nothing happens in a vacuum. Every creative act responds to what's come before. And by exploring this dialogue, you can learn new things about ourselves and the world. This idea has inspired the Norwegian artist throughout her near two-decade career. It's behind her unforgettable covers of classic songs and her interpretations of the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch. And it found its purest expression on 2020's Baudelaire & Piano, a stripped-back song cycle setting texts from the 19th century French poet's "The Flowers of Evil". In Elevation, its follow-up, Susanna's engagement with Baudelaire's work blossoms into a collaborative enterprise, combining tape, spoken word, and song. The result is a unique musical conversation spanning centuries and disciplines; a "time travelling" project, as Susanna puts it, that moves between creative dimensions. She brings collaborators back into the process, nurturing connections made over a series of Baudelaire & Piano live shows presented in 2020 and 2021. Composer improviser Delphine Dora offers teasing renditions of the original French texts, layering spoken recitation and otherworldly singing in a set of atmospheric vignettes. And tape recorder soundscapes from Stina Stjern -- familiar from Susanna's Hieronymous Bosch project Garden of Earthly Delights (2019) -- frame the album with hiss, hum, and soft fingers of melody, like mist settling on a landscape. These contributions deepen the album's mystery and its evocative power. The result is an engrossing interleaving of sounds and registers; and, as Susanna describes it, "an intuitive and collective ceremony of the ethereal and mystical in life." Elevation features work by American occultist artist Cameron (1922-1995), an adherent of Aleister Crowley's Thelema movement. Her illustrations "Witch Woman", "Pan", and "Danse" adorn the release.
Oslo-based artist Susanna has released music as Susanna and the Magical Orchestra and "just" Susanna since 2004, through labels like Rune Grammofon, ECM Records, and her own outlet SusannaSonata. She has collaborated with artists like Jenny Hval, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and John Paul Jones, highly active with different projects, songwriting/composing, and making personal interpretations of other people's songs.
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SONATA 004LP
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180 gram vinyl version. Wild Dog is Susanna's eighth album, including three with Susanna And The Magical Orchestra, her "Norwegian" album Jeg Vil Hjem Til Menneskene (GRCD 4337CD) and the ECM album with Giovanna Pessi. That is effectively one album a year of quality releases since her debut in 2004, indeed, a very rare treat these days. Possibly best-known for her unique and striking interpretations of iconic songs like "Jolene," "Hallelujah" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart," she has also proven herself as an original songwriter with a strong signature. Bonnie "Prince" Billy has performed and recorded her songs and MOJO named her song "Believer" as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever." The ten originals on Wild Dog are darker, wilder and more intensely seductive than ever. Susanna has assembled some prominent guests on the album with Emmett Kelly from Bonnie "Prince" Billy's band and Jeremy Gara from Arcade Fire appearing on all ten tracks while Shahzad Ismaily is credited on seven tracks and Norwegian Jo Berger Myhre on two. Co-producer Helge Sten (Deathprod) is typically credited with "space and beyond" on one track while The Sheriffs Of Nothingness (Ole Henrik Moe and Kari Rønnekleiv) do their thing on another track. Recorded at legendary Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, Ocean Sound Recordings in Giske and Audio Virus Lab in Oslo, this is yet another superbly-recorded and produced album, all overseen by Helge Sten. First release on the new SusannaSonata label.
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CD
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RCD 2128CD
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Wild Dog is Susanna's eighth album, including three with Susanna And The Magical Orchestra, her "Norwegian" album Jeg Vil Hjem Til Menneskene (GRCD 4337CD) and the ECM album with Giovanna Pessi. That is effectively one album a year of quality releases since her debut in 2004, indeed, a very rare treat these days. Possibly best-known for her unique and striking interpretations of iconic songs like "Jolene," "Hallelujah" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart," she has also proven herself as an original songwriter with a strong signature. Bonnie "Prince" Billy has performed and recorded her songs and MOJO named her song "Believer" as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever." The ten originals on Wild Dog are darker, wilder and more intensely seductive than ever. Susanna has assembled some prominent guests on the album with Emmett Kelly from Bonnie "Prince" Billy's band and Jeremy Gara from Arcade Fire appearing on all ten tracks while Shahzad Ismaily is credited on seven tracks and Norwegian Jo Berger Myhre on two. Co-producer Helge Sten (Deathprod) is typically credited with "space and beyond" on one track while The Sheriffs Of Nothingness (Ole Henrik Moe and Kari Rønnekleiv) do their thing on another track. Recorded at legendary Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, Ocean Sound Recordings in Giske and Audio Virus Lab in Oslo, this is yet another superbly-recorded and produced album, all overseen by Helge Sten.
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2LP
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RLP 3080LP
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Limited double vinyl version in exquisite gatefold sleeve. Flower of Evil is the second solo album from Susanna Wallumrød, mostly known from two fine albums and a number of quietly powerful concerts with Susanna and the Magical Orchestra. Susanna has already proved herself as an original songwriter, "Believer" from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's debut album from 2004 was named by Mojo as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever." And on her first solo album, Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos (2007) all 12 songs were her own. But Susanna is also known as an extraordinary interpreter of songs, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Hallelujah" from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's album Melody Mountain (2006) being two examples of her ability to renew "difficult" songs. Flower Of Evil is 12 sublime cover versions of mostly well-known songs as well as two Susanna originals, all beautifully sung by one of the most exceptional new voices of recent years, with lovely accompaniment by her trusted band members Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent), Pål Hausken (In The Country) and with Bonnie "Prince" Billy guesting on two songs. Whether it's Thin Lizzy or Sandy Denny, Black Sabbath or Nico, Lou Reed or Abba, all are given the very personal Susanna treatment. Flower Of Evil was recorded in Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, a studio full of vintage, analog equipment and a wonderful engineer, Janne Hansson, who knows all there is to know about proper recording. And it is difficult to say something about this record without mentioning how good it sounds. While many are concerned about illegal downloading and the drop in CD sales, few seem troubled by the lost art of proper recording and the tyranny of compression and squeezing of music to make it sound as loud as possible on radio, mp3 players, cell phones and small PC speakers. Flower Of Evil is an old school recording of musicians playing and singing together with a bare minimum of compression being applied at the mixing and mastering stage, thus maintaining the natural dynamics of the performance.
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RCD 2080CD
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Flower of Evil is the second solo album from Susanna Wallumrød, mostly known from two fine albums and a number of quietly powerful concerts with Susanna and the Magical Orchestra. Susanna has already proved herself as an original songwriter, "Believer" from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's debut album from 2004 was named by Mojo as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever." And on her first solo album, Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos (2007) all 12 songs were her own. But Susanna is also known as an extraordinary interpreter of songs, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Hallelujah" from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's album Melody Mountain (2006) being two examples of her ability to renew "difficult" songs. Flower Of Evil is 12 sublime cover versions of mostly well-known songs as well as two Susanna originals, all beautifully sung by one of the most exceptional new voices of recent years, with lovely accompaniment by her trusted band members Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent), Pål Hausken (In The Country) and with Bonnie "Prince" Billy guesting on two songs. Whether it's Thin Lizzy or Sandy Denny, Black Sabbath or Nico, Lou Reed or Abba, all are given the very personal Susanna treatment. Flower Of Evil was recorded in Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, a studio full of vintage, analog equipment and a wonderful engineer, Janne Hansson, who knows all there is to know about proper recording. And it is difficult to say something about this record without mentioning how good it sounds. While many are concerned about illegal downloading and the drop in CD sales, few seem troubled by the lost art of proper recording and the tyranny of compression and squeezing of music to make it sound as loud as possible on radio, mp3 players, cell phones and small PC speakers. Flower Of Evil is an old school recording of musicians playing and singing together with a bare minimum of compression being applied at the mixing and mastering stage, thus maintaining the natural dynamics of the performance.
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RCD 2066CD
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This is the debut solo album from Norway's Susanna Karolina Wallumrød, who is most known for two sublime albums and a number of quietly powerful concerts with Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, a duo which includes member Morten Qvenild (Jaga Jazzist, Shining, In The Country). This time she is simply "Susanna," and she has written twelve highly personal songs that make up this beautiful and quite extraordinary album. She plays piano and guitar and guests include brother and ECM recording artist Christian Wallumrød (piano), Magical Orchestra partner Morten Qvenild (piano, synth), Big Bang leader Øystein Greni (guitar), The White Birch leader Ola Fløttum (guitar), In The Country drummer Pål Hausken, Helge Sten (guitar, mellotron) and Giovanna Pessi (harp). As Rune Grammofon label head Rune Kristoffersen makes clear: "In these fast and restless times of instant entertainment and shortways to possible success, it's a rare treat to witness a young and genuinely talented singer and writer that operates to such a degree outside trends and fashions. Much in the same way as a young Tim Buckley, Nico or Scott Walker without making too much of those comparisons. We are delighted with this lovely addition to the catalog, a work of uncompromising dedication inviting us to reflect and to listen." Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos is produced by Deathprod (Helge Sten).
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