blomi - Susanne Sundfor: Review
Susanne Sundfor
is a Norwegian singer-songwriter who first broke out with a sound that combined classical instrumentation with electronic elements in the early 2010s. Her previous album Music For People In Trouble in 2017 shifted her style in a more folk and conventional singer-songwriter direction a style that is continued and expanded upon on blomi.
Review by Lav:
Susanne has always been one of those artists that I liked a LOT more than the popular consensus, the first piece of evidence being how much her songs and albums have appeared in my decade retrospective video series. I was thrilled earlier this year when Susanne announced her long-awaited return with an album that would expand on the shift in sound she undertook on Music For People In Trouble and after a pair of enjoyable singles this was becoming one of my most anticipated albums of the year. Turns out those instincts were solid because Blomi is wonderful.
The record launched with an absolutely gorgeous lead single Alyosha which I haven't been able to get enough of since it first came out. It has soaring vocal harmonies that remind me of some of my favorite Susanne songs from the past and the refrains are just so unbelievably catchy it was a spectacular start for the record. While the record does have its experimental moments, which we'll get to, the record is at its best when Susanne is dabbling in familiar territory.
The title track blomi has a brilliant vocal performance that sees Susanne matching the song's dramatic tension with poise and confidence. The song has a message of optimism and perseverance summarized by the line "the ladies in black will wear white again". It also deploys a wonderfully warm saxophone bridge and it's not the only song on the record to do so. ashera's song features some of the brightest and more enveloping instrumentation the record has to offer. It uses this sound to form a swelling ballad that feels like a fairy tale and conjures the exact same kind of naturalistic imagery you'd expect lyrically.
Two more of those highlights show up in the middle of the record starting with a narrative gem in fare thee well. It's a pretty standard outing instrumentally which really just serves as a palette for the great story. At first it kind of appears like a fond farewell to a friend but if you dig into the details it seems to be more about a relationship where trying to keep it together tore both parties apart and they had no choice but to say goodbye. It's a wonderful narrative highlight that immediately follows a great compositional highlight in runa which sports shimmering piano chords that set up even more beautiful rushes of swaying instrumentation. Even though I wish the chorus was a bit more than just lyricless harmonizing I still can't deny how beautiful the sound of the song is.
There are two spoken word songs on the record and they're each pretty different. oro yolu is the opening track which focuses a lot of the narrative device of tying the human body both physically and emotionally to a celestial body with a black hole behind the heart. It's very sonically eerie in its minimalism but I still think it's a quite fascinating way to begin the album. The other spoken word cut is sannu yarru li which has a MUCH more direct and confident performance backed by an array of percussion and an atmosphere that feels like a thunderstorm about to roll in. It's a bit indulgent but despite the language gap it was still never a song I got bored with.
While I don't think this album has any duds per se, when it's at its most experimental is when I tend to have the most mixed feelings. leikara ljoo starts out like a field recording before slowly phasing its nature sounds out in favor of methodical clapping and angelic backing vocals. The track has strange vocal diatribes and even starts to sound tribal at some points with the group vocal harmonies and layers. While I can't say it's one of the album's best moments it is incredibly unique and despite the nearly 7-minute runtime it never felt like a chore.
nattsongr is a strange little track that grew on me every time I heard it. It's all about not knowing whether you're asleep or awake and the sonic palette reflects that pretty earnestly with this slightly obscured piano and cloudy moments of sonic blending throughout. The lyrics are evocative even if it's sometimes difficult to ground yourself in the story which if anything feels appropriate given what the song is about.
blomi is a wonderful record full of vibrant instrumentation and great songwriting. Even without the dramatic peaks of some of Susanne's early work, there is still intrigue in almost every moment of these ten tracks. The album walks an impressive line between familiar singer-songwriter styles and occasionally quite surprising experimentation, but Susanne never lets it get away from her. The album has all the hallmarks of a project that had been conceptualized and developed extensively for years and the results are fittingly detailed and rewarding. To put it bluntly, Susanne Sundfor has done it again. 8.5/10
For more singer-songwriter music check out my review of The Tallest Man On Earth's Henry St.
