your favorite Stina Nordenstam album

as for me, I have a hard time getting into her first two albums, even though And She Closed Her Eyes is supposed to be the classic. at that stage she comes across as too conventional a singer-songwriter for my taste. what I like about her later work is the way she keeps such an emotional distance from her own material. even when she sings in the first person, like on "Dynamite" and "Winter Killing," I don't get the impression that she's voicing her inner feelings or even taking on a persona for the duration of the song. she delivers her lines as if she's reading them aloud from a book that someone else wrote. even though the content of the book might not interest her, it triggers all sorts of real-life memories and feelings that show up in her voice in a subtle but powerful way. and in the rare moments when she drops the mask and gets personal with the listener, like in "Failing to Fly" and the opening lines of "Under Your Command," the effect can be devastating.

my vote goes to Dynamite, with The World is Saved and This Is... not far behind.

Good post. The whole singing-lyrics-as-if-you-were-a-typeface was also mentioned on the
Blossom Dearie thread, and I can definitely see the parallels with Stina. There are very few records that have left me as emotionally thunderstruck as the first listen to And She Closed Her Eyes did.

As for this poll, very hard to choose. I believe she's recorded a lot of material since The World Is Saved, but I've also heard rumors that she's done with music for now and is focusing on video/photography.

thanks Michael. true or not the rumor doesn't surprise me that much, given the way she tends to control her album art and music videos so tightly. the video for "This Time John"(which she directed) particularly impressed me:

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

and I'd encourage This Is Stina Nordenstam apologists to get onto youtube and watch the 10 promo videos (one for each song except for "Stations") she commissioned for that album. I have no idea where her label got the budget for a stunt like that. maybe Stina has a lot of friends in the cinema biz? at any rate this could be the best video of the bunch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue5163OOEJQ

she doesn't seem to have quit music entirely, since she has a couple songwriting credits on this guy's album from last year.

My favorite of the "This Is" videos is probably "Clothe Yourself For The Wind" or "Keen Yellow Planet." "Circus" is also great, but sadly not included on the dvd.

as for me, I have a hard time getting into her first two albums, even though And She Closed Her Eyes is supposed to be the classic. at that stage she comes across as too conventional a singer-songwriter for my taste. what I like about her later work is the way she keeps such an emotional distance from her own material. even when she sings in the first person, like on "Dynamite" and "Winter Killing," I don't get the impression that she's voicing her inner feelings or even taking on a persona for the duration of the song.

You should persist with And She Closed Her Eyes I think, it actually totally falls in line with the above with the exception of a handful of tracks like "Something Nice" and "Hopefully Yours" (though I find these charming in the self-effacing sweetness).

Songs like "When Debbie's Back From Texas", "Proposal", "Murder In Mairyland Park", "So This Is Goodbye" and even "Little Star" really capture that sense of distance you talk about - I always think of it as Stina adopting a kind of ironic diplomacy about whatever she's talking about - is "Viewed From The Spire" about terrorism? Is "Proposal" about domestic violence? Is "Little Star" about the selfishness of suicide? You can arrive at these conclusions, but what makes Stina cutting as a songwriter is that she not merely withholds judgment but implies that judgment is pointless, her still life depictions avoid narratives because narrative would attempt to make sense of that which is senseless.

The difference with And She Closed Her Eyes compared to her earlier work is primarily that the arrangements are so pretty that the above only creeps up on you very gradually...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i love all of these but I think maybe the world is saved is the best one. I came in with the debut as well. I like "this is" a lot also although i think maybe lots of people don't.

the world is saved, pretty easily - never heard the debut or the covers album, didn't get into and she closed her eyes, but i love the other 3.

Dynamite just slightly over The World Is Saved, then And She Closed Her Eyes, then This Is..., then the Memories of A Colour and People Are Strange equal finish.

I sort of think of the first three albums in my list above as being stronger versions of the last three. Why would I listen to the debut when I can listen to And She Closed Her Eyes (except maybe to listen to "A Walk In The Park"), why would I listen to People Are Strange when I can listen to Dynamite (except maybe to listen to "I Dream of Jeannie") etc.

Dynamite for me

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