SONDRE FERSTAD - Snirkelsongar
Ora Fonagram: OF182
Sondra Ferstad: vocals, harmonica; Heida Skjerve: vocals; Morten Stai: double bass; Vegard Lien Bjerkan: percussion, pump organ
Recorded 11th and 12th October 2020 by Jo Ranheim in Øra Studio
The combination of Ferstad’s chromatic harmonica (played with a wistful lilt) and Bjerkan’s pump organ, give this music an ethereal quality that is immediately Scandinavian while also being completely underworldly. In the press release, Ferstad explains how much he loves the ‘soft, non-insistent sound’ of the pump organ and its ‘sound of squeaking and pedalling’. Added to this Skjerve’s clear vocal create a feeling of warmth, but also a sense of beguilement like the sirens that sung to Odysseus. Or the confusion that Theseus might have felt in search in the minotaur. Skjerve (with Maren Barlien) wrote the lyrics and these perfectly sit in the settings that Ferstad has created for them. For Ferstad, ‘the songs have been created by letting the melodies take detours and change course, a bit like they’re in a maze’. And it is this sense of confusion and beguilement that has stayed with me across several listens to this CD. The three iterations of ‘Traskelåt’ take a simple vocal theme and repeat it to hypnotic effect, with variations on the contribution made by bass or harmonic. While the theme, as it is repeated, does little by way of variation, it holds the listeners attention and, over the 1, 2 or 3 minutes of each unfolding, the tune almost forces you to hold your breath in anticipation of its development. The beguilement is particularly apparent on ‘Gangsyn’ (track 5) which mixes the fragility of Ferstad’s singing voice with the strength and confidence of Skjerve’s, and on the way in which Skjerve’s singing melts into Ferstad’s delicious harmonica solo on the closing track ‘Kveldssong’. Each tune, written by Ferstad, has the feeling of traditional folk music merged with contemporary sensibilities. It is not simply that the tunes feel vibrant and fresh but that they convey an idiosyncratic style of music that one feels could only be made now (even though the tunes carry with them a weight of tradition and history).
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Ora Fonagram: OF182
Sondra Ferstad: vocals, harmonica; Heida Skjerve: vocals; Morten Stai: double bass; Vegard Lien Bjerkan: percussion, pump organ
Recorded 11th and 12th October 2020 by Jo Ranheim in Øra Studio
The combination of Ferstad’s chromatic harmonica (played with a wistful lilt) and Bjerkan’s pump organ, give this music an ethereal quality that is immediately Scandinavian while also being completely underworldly. In the press release, Ferstad explains how much he loves the ‘soft, non-insistent sound’ of the pump organ and its ‘sound of squeaking and pedalling’. Added to this Skjerve’s clear vocal create a feeling of warmth, but also a sense of beguilement like the sirens that sung to Odysseus. Or the confusion that Theseus might have felt in search in the minotaur. Skjerve (with Maren Barlien) wrote the lyrics and these perfectly sit in the settings that Ferstad has created for them. For Ferstad, ‘the songs have been created by letting the melodies take detours and change course, a bit like they’re in a maze’. And it is this sense of confusion and beguilement that has stayed with me across several listens to this CD. The three iterations of ‘Traskelåt’ take a simple vocal theme and repeat it to hypnotic effect, with variations on the contribution made by bass or harmonic. While the theme, as it is repeated, does little by way of variation, it holds the listeners attention and, over the 1, 2 or 3 minutes of each unfolding, the tune almost forces you to hold your breath in anticipation of its development. The beguilement is particularly apparent on ‘Gangsyn’ (track 5) which mixes the fragility of Ferstad’s singing voice with the strength and confidence of Skjerve’s, and on the way in which Skjerve’s singing melts into Ferstad’s delicious harmonica solo on the closing track ‘Kveldssong’. Each tune, written by Ferstad, has the feeling of traditional folk music merged with contemporary sensibilities. It is not simply that the tunes feel vibrant and fresh but that they convey an idiosyncratic style of music that one feels could only be made now (even though the tunes carry with them a weight of tradition and history).
Reviewed by Chris Baber
