Ane Brun
Spending Time With Morgan

THE REVIEW

In the sea of music releases that fill the shelves of music stores every month, there are, for various reasons, productions that remain in the shadows; and some of these are beautiful pearls. Like in the case of this Norwegian singer-songwriter, Ane Brun, who has the face of a 1930s silent film diva and two blue eyes that are oceans of depth, and her small but great album titled "Spending Time With Morgan".

Ane Brun comes from cold and distant lands, yet she is not incapable of warming your heart, because that's exactly what she does with this album, even on the first listen, even if you don't know the words well, because it's very easy to be captivated by that delicate yet decisive voice, which doesn't engage in virtuosity but that you feel is incredibly versatile. And so Ane manages to create atmospheres of nostalgic resignation, the kind that grabs you on rainy and cold days, but at the same time there's something different, like a calm and ironic cheerfulness that seems to underlie even the grayest moments. And so the album starts to flow, one track after another, and before you even realize it you've already reached the end and it's a real shame, because right from the first track "Humming One of Your Songs" you realize you are in front of something special; a small gem of "song form" made of few stanzas, few notes and few instruments: a triumph of simplicity and stylistic effectiveness that you can't get out of your head anymore. Yes, because Ane is one of those truly talented individuals, needing little to steal you away, to unsettle you; a sprinkle of sax (as in "Headphone Silence"), a counterpoint of pedal steel and piano ("Drowning In Those Eyes", "Sleeping By The Fyris River"), a viola in the background ("On Off") or maybe when she does it all alone, with some intricate arpeggio of the inevitable acoustic guitar and her bare voice ("One More Time, Wooden Body"). There are also moments where she proves to be a perfect interpreter of "female rock," as in the case of the compelling "So You Did It Again" or the instrumentally richer "Shot My Heart".

At times tear-jerking, at times angry, but still never banal neither in the lyrics nor in the formal solutions, with that accent on the verse that lands just where you don't expect it. A powerful and delicate album at the same time, for rainy days and beyond.