Comes highly acclaimed

“Wondrous, haunting bunch of covers from Norwegian singer” 8/10 Uncut Magazine 

“There’s a chill melancholy to Susanna’s vocal delivery that’s quintessentially Scandinavian, but which matches perfectly most of the material on this anthology of covers.” 4/5 The Independent

“Susanna makes a classic set of songs truly her own on Go Dig My Grave” 8/10 The 405

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LIMITED EDITION VINYL: 180 gr black with CD inlay and special print inlay by Arne Bendik Sjur, signed by both Susanna and the artist. SOLD OUT 31st of May 2018

CD: Digipack with booklet

Susanna ‘Go Dig My Grave’ feat. Giovanna Pessi, Ida Hidle & Tuva Syvertsen 

Susanna has never been one to shy away from the great questions in her music. With ‘Go Dig My Grave’, her 12th album, she explores historic musical gaps by combining music from the Great American Songbook and old English traditionals with baroque instrumentation and her own, characteristic vocal interpretations. Add some Henry Purcell, some Lou Reed, and Susanna’s own composition, and the unique complexity of Susanna’s artistry is evident: ‘Go Dig My Grave’ is a profoundly personal collection of dark songs with deep roots through centuries of American and European musical heritage.

An unnerving combination of existential despair and musical beauty, ‘Go Dig My Grave’ presents a selection of songs straddling issues of lost love, abandonment – and a merciless thirst for liquor.

The album is strongly centerred around Susanna’s voice and personal expression, bringing to mind sometimes her older sisters in folk, Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins, and sometimes referencing historic artists like opera singer and experimental musician Klaus Nomi.

The combination of songs and genres is in many ways an exploration of music itself. From the resigned and slow rhythm of the longing ‘Rye Whiskey’ to the metaphoric English ballad ‘The Three Ravens’, Susanna makes connections between the acute pain of American history and the poetic qualities of the more abstract European art. Ending with a version of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’, slightly more lighthearted than the rest of the album, Susanna leaves the listener with a hopeful sense of the transformational qualities of musical expression itself.

The album marks Susanna’s return to her collaboration with Swiss baroque harp player Giovanna Pessi. Pessi first appeared alongside Susanna on the album ‘Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos’, released on Rune Grammofon in 2007, and played a major role on the critically acclaimed ECM album ‘If Grief Could Wait’, a deep-dive into the sorrow-stricken music of Henry Purcell, Leonard Cohen and Susanna herself. This time the two have invited the talented young accordion player Ida Løvli Hidle and the great Norwegian fiddle player and folk singer Tuva Livsdatter Syvertsen to form a quartet. The result is a dynamic band that easily masters subtle shifts from the simple folk feeling of songs like Elizabeth Cotten’s ‘Freight Train’ to the icy beauty of Purcell’s ‘Cold Song’ and the complex, centuries old lament of ‘The Willow Song’.

Personnel

Susanna: vocals and kalimba

Giovanna Pessi- baroque harp

Ida Løvli Hidle- accordion

Tuva Livsdatter Syvertsen: hardangerfiddle, fiddle and vocals

Recorded by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio Oslo

Mixed by Jan Erik Kongshaug with Helge Sten and Susanna at Rainbow Studio.

Produced by Deathprod and Susanna

Mastered by Helge Sten at Audio Virus Lab. 

Cover is an artwork by Arne Bendik Sjur, used with the artist’s permission.

Design by Johanna Blom

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