Not many Christmas songs left now, just a few. This one arrived out of the blue a few days ago and is not a Christmas album as such but it contains a series of seven tracks which both describe the traditional snow and Christmas carol scene very well and put you into a relaxed mood, which everyone needs to be right now.
Anette Askvik is a Norwegian artist, composer and producer who grew up in Stavanger, finding inspiration in the ocean and nature surrounding her.
On her debut album, ‘Liberty’, Anette worked with producer and pianist Øystein Sevåg, as well as renowned musicians like Audun Erlien, Rune Arnesen and Petter Wettre, establishing an early benchmark for sound quality.
On her second one, ‘Multiverse’ (isn’t that Zuckerberg’s next grand projet?), Anette found inspiration in sounds from stars, moons and planets, using recordings made by NASA, which can be heard in her songs.
She is highly versatile. Her last album before this one was ‘With Every Cell’, which was released as recently as October and which was alt-pop and with every song in English.
She says that ‘Lyden av snø’ (The sound of snow) is an album about finding peace depicting the contrasting turmoil of the collective wheel, which rolls at a tremendous speed, and we fail to take care of ourselves, each other, and the nature around us.”
I could have selected any track as they all generate the same entrancing energy but the title track, which features Ole-Bjørn Talstad, a Norwegian pianist and composer known for his gentle and nostalgic piano pieces, offers the added benefit not only of Anette’s piercing signature high notes, ones that makes Mariah Carey sound like Lee Marvin singing ‘”Wand’rin’ Star’, but also terrific harmonies and an extended instrumental bridge-cum-outro that sounds at first like it might be being played on a didgeridoo before it explodes into the classical autograph of renowned trumpeter Matthias Eick.
What is she singing about? I haven’t a clue. My Norwegian has never progressed beyond ‘takk’ and ‘øl’. So pour yourself a drink and just wallow in it.
Incidentally, I suggest you check out her website page just to get a quick sense of her versatility from the four videos there.
Find her on:
Website: https://www.anetteaskvik.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnetteAskvik
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anetteaskvik/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnetteAskvik
Photo credit: Linnea Syversen
