This morning I listened to two albums from artists who were entirely new to me. I pick up potential new listening from the i newspaper each day and particularly each Friday when there is an extended Arts section. I glance through the reviews and if I see any that sound interesting and/or get positive comments then I take a note of them for future reference. When I do this I try not to be biased by what I already like and whether I have heard of the artist or band before. In fact, I try to actively look for artists that I haven’t heard of much before. Two such finds were Norwegian songwriter Ane Brun (specifically her 2015 album When I’m Free and Danish singer-song write Agnes Obel (and her 2016 album Citizen of Glass) – clearly I must have a new music sensor set to a ‘Scandinavian female singer-songwriter’ setting!
I quite liked both albums but definitely preferred the Agnes Obel one – it was a little cleaner sounding with hints of Kate Bush. Parts of it felt slightly familiar, as if they were used as a soundtrack for some drama programme I have watched on TV (I don’t think they were). I’d probably listen to this album again and/or explore her other work. I wasn’t so sold on the Ane Brun album – it just seemed to lack any particular impact and so I didn’t particularly notice that I was listening to it (if that makes sense). However, I saw in the paper this morning that Brun has a new album out very soon (which is what prompted me to try When I’m Free today) so I will probably give that one a go if I can get hold of it.
Tim O'Hare 