Ane Brun - Changing Of The Seasons [Album]

Determine Records

March 20, 2009, 12:27 PM

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Now, imagine Bjork has invented some kind of mind-transference device. Not too long a stretch of the imagination, I'm sure you'll agree. Imagine also that this device can transpose your mind into anyone one else's throughout history. What I'm getting at, you see, is that Bjork, nutty professor that she is, has only gone and got herself locked in Nick Drake's brain. Seeking an escape, she recreates her sci-fi contraption, only to transfer their combined personalities into someone else. That person just happens to be Ane Brun.

Now, dear reader, you may well think that I'm being particularly lazy in comparing Ane Brun to Bjork. "They may both be from Nordic countries, but that's where the similarities end, idiot," you may be saying to yourself. Or, rather, saying it to yourself but for that last bit, which you'll be saying to me - but I am no idiot. The reason I make the comparison is that Ane Brun and Bjork share the same willingness to experiment, to twist that malleable entity that is music, and to push out against the constricting boundaries of normality. On Changing Of The Seasons, it works magnificently.

Can you do me a favour, please, dear reader? Just add "haunting" to every description of these songs. It's pretty much always appropriate throughout Changing Of The Seasons, and it'll get a bit tedious if I say it every time.

From the brilliant opener, The Treehouse Song (have you watched the video yet? Smack S will hunt you down if you haven't), to the melancholy Big In Japan (endearingly suffixed "Bonustrack" as one word), Changing Of The Seasons is sublime. Occasionally, things may get just a little tedious - not bad, just a tad dull - through Gillian or Don't Leave, for example, but these niggling doubts are quickly washed away by another piece of sweet and inventive vocal interplay or intricate melody, both of which are peppered lightly throughout. To clarify slightly, when I say peppered lightly, I don't mean that there isn't much of it - I mean that it's delicately seasoned, like a finely balanced taste of citrus on a perfectly cooked sea bass.

There really are some incredible pieces of invention, such as The Puzzle's hectic, counter intuitive chorus, or the simple, almost childish, piano on Armour, which cleverly counters the adult lullaby of the humming and warbling chorus. Yet it is a little difficult to pick just one or two parts worthy of mention, simply because there are so many. It may be easier, I think, to just buy a copy of Changing Of The Seasons yourself. Ask Whack S where you can get it from, he'll know.

Personal Note: Many thanks to Jack S (damn him...) for pipping me to the post on Ane Brun information (see his news article on Changing Of The Seasons). That kind of rules out Wikipedia for a source of information. Molde, Norway - check. Cyndi Lauper cover advertising Sky (you know the one, its got a frog in it. Yes, you do. Look:


Remember now?) - check. Where Cack S provided invaluable assistance was in posting up the...

brilliantly dark video

...for The Treehouse Song. You can also...


...as well, obviously. Apparently, everything is now on YouTube. You want a video of a snot-nosed brat having a tantrum? YouTube. Want a 5-minute long video of a wall? That's right. Well done.

What Hack S hasn't done - as far as I'm aware - is review Changing Of The Seasons, which, fortunately, I have. Suck it, Crack S!

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