releases
1. Freight Train (Elizabeth Cotten)
2. Cold Song (John Dryden/Henry Purcell)
3. Invitation to the Voyage (Charles Baudelaire/Susanna)
4. Rye Whiskey (Traditional)
5. The Willow Song (Anonymous)
6. Go Dig My Grave (Traditional)
7. Lilac Wine (James Shelton)
8. Wilderness (Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner)
9. The Three Ravens (Old English folk ballad)
10. Perfect Day (Lou Reed)
Go Dig My Grave – Susanna (VINYL / CD)
SusannaSonata SONATA040/CD040/LP040 2018Comes highly acclaimed
āWondrous, haunting bunch of covers from Norwegian singerā 8/10Ā Uncut MagazineĀ
āThereās a chill melancholy to Susannaās vocal delivery thatās quintessentially Scandinavian, but which matches perfectly most of the material on this anthology of covers.ā 4/5Ā The Independent
“Susanna makes a classic set of songs truly her own on Go Dig My Grave” 8/10Ā 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 SyvertsenĀ
Susanna has never been one to shy away from the great questions in her music. With āGo Dig My Graveā, 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 Susannaās own composition, and the unique complexity of Susannaās artistry is evident: āGo Dig My Graveā 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, āGo Dig My Graveā presents a selection of songs straddling issues of lost love, abandonment ā and a merciless thirst for liquor.
The album is strongly centerred around Susannaās 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 āRye Whiskeyā to the metaphoric English ballad āThe Three Ravensā, 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 Reedās āPerfect Dayā, 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 Susannaās return to her collaboration with Swiss baroque harp player Giovanna Pessi. Pessi first appeared alongside Susanna on the album āSonata Mix Dwarf Cosmosā, released on Rune Grammofon in 2007, and played a major role on the critically acclaimed ECM album āIf Grief Could Waitā, 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 LĆøvli 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 Cottenās āFreight Trainā to the icy beauty of Purcellās āCold Songā and the complex, centuries old lament of āThe Willow Songā.
Personnel
Susanna: vocals and kalimba
Giovanna Pessi- baroque harp
Ida LĆøvli 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.Ā
Cover is an artwork by Arne Bendik Sjur, used with the artistās permission.
Design by Johanna Blom
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