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

that's a better description than I could ever have come up with BN, it's a monumental piece of music

I was in Iceland in 2018 and I spent a lot of time in coaches, driving the flatlands of the coast roads between the sea and the mountains, listening over and over to People in Trouble, particularly Mountaineers. Jesus, what a song.

Bit random but I wanted to bump this thread after Susanne's appearance in the top 77 tracks thread, and there's no live performance of that song that I can find, but this one of a debut album track from 2012 was uploaded on youtube last year and I hadn't seen it before

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

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

Music for People in Trouble is a pretty great album

I've just realised I mainly listen to albums when I'm driving and I've barely driven anywhere this past year ;_;
(SS's albums were on rotation fairly frequently)

wasn't feeling Music for People in Trouble when it first came out

https://i.imgur.com/U3eEduw.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5sGROCRiDs

!

chills at hearing her voice again.

only noticed halfway it was a Röyksopp track, which explains the lack of melodic development.

but that voice… I can’t stop listening.

Sounds like she's covering a Pet Shop Boys track

(i.e. I love it)

what a voice - sigh

yeah

that was awesome

Another one with Röyksopp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s_6LjSmZqo

in total, that's 5 songs on the three Röyksopp albums this year
https://www.facebook.com/susannesundfor/videos/r%C3%B6yksopp-stay-awhile-ft-susanne-sundf%C3%B8r/479643497342027/

+ she got married over the Summer
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=627253205427198

I wonder what the song was for the first dance

Digging through various Fleetwood Mac-youtubes looking for Christine nuggets, I found this magnificent Stevie-cover from Norwegian TV (yes, the host at the start is Happy Tom from Turbo). Notably, Susanne is convering the 1981 rehearsal version, which is among the most beautiful things known to man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f65ffDfGGac

Hadn't heard about the soundtrack she did for the movie Self Portrait, looking forward to listening.

New music coming?

23rd February 2023 pic.twitter.com/jhi8RqgHwE

— Susanne Sundfør (@susannesundfor) February 14, 2023

!

Please let it be new music

new line of chandeliers

https://www.stereogum.com/2214704/susanne-sundfor-alyosha-leikara-ljod-blomi/music/

i like these a lot more than anything on the last album

pretty fantastic stuff

I can't listen now but excited

the second of these has an extremely unfortunate first two minutes. i was on the cusp of a denunciatory post and then she started doing vocal harmony things. still don't think we particularly needed to hear sundfor's idea of gospel music, and as i type she's abandoned the harmony stuff and gone back to the cringe. wasn't into the first single too much either but it was about the level of the previous album. the more she releases the clearer it is that TLS was a once-a-career work

Well she's allergic to doing the same album twice so in that way I agree TLS is probably a once-a-career work. It's natural if it remains her best work too, considering how good it is. She also said she was burnt out after producing all those bangers mostly by herself.

HOWEVER, she's definitely put out synth pop songs as good as some of those on TLS before that album. And other incredible songs before and after.

The snippet that ends the 2nd tracks is the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle played pretty traditionally, I think it'd be fun if she explored that more on the new album. Both these songs slap.

She also said she was burnt out after producing all those bangers mostly by herself.

Which is why a Susanne Sundfør LP co-produced by Röyksopp makes so much sense!

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

kind of an incredible move releasing your wedding video as an actual music video. congrats Susanne!

(April 28 gonna be a big album release day for me between this, Avalon Emerson and Jessie Ware)

love that

<3

pretty good album, i like it a lot more than music for people in trouble but it's obviously no ten love songs.

three of the ten tracks being spoken word is a little much for my taste but the second of those at least has a cool instrumental

I was a bit nervous about the spoken word songs ruining the flow similar to the latest Lana Del Rey, but they totally work here. Need to spend time with this album as there's so much to take in but there's some really gorgeous moments here. I love how loose it all feels.

I gave it one listen yesterday. It was pouring rain here - perfect weather to light a candle and put on a singer-songwriter album. Don't have any specific comments off that one listen, but I really enjoyed it.

xp well it helps that two of the spoken word tracks are just the intro and outro and the other has a compelling enough backing

There are some great songs here, like the entire "ashera's song" -> "ru​̄​nā" sequence (Susanne doing Scott 4/psych-folk-ABBA is a good look)...though I'm not sure the whole album adds up, the back half is (so far) a bit dispensable apart from "alyosha".

The flute part in sannu yarru li reminds me of a relatively famous jazz or funk song. it's on the tip of my tongue and I feel like an idiot for not recognizing it.

I gave it one listen yesterday. It was pouring rain here - perfect weather to light a candle and put on a singer-songwriter album. Don't have any specific comments off that one listen, but I really enjoyed it.

― peace, man, Saturday, April 29, 2023 8:47 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just here to repeat this, basically. This is a great, chill album. Just flipped the disc from Fare Thee Well to Leikara Ljóð. Great sequencing there.

Still wondering about the flute part I mentioned in my last post. We have some kind of rolling thread for recognizing melodies on ilx, but I can't remember what it is off the top of my head.

Found it! I was thinking of Fishbone: Can anyone identify which song used this melody?

nice bigger-band live version of blómi: https://susannesundfor.bandcamp.com/track/bl-mi-feat-rohey-taalah-live-from-trondheim

beautiful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3SsTknkXpA

that went into the end of Weekend À Rome in my head

Ten Love Songs still rules, man.

yeah I never got into the 2023 one

and i hooooooooope it's gonna last fooooooorever

this is the kind of love that never goes out of style
'cause baby i know that you'll always be waiting
and i'll always want to come back

*ding*

this is the sound of your heart
the sound of your heart
it sounds lonely