New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Green Light Go) Therese Aune is a romantic and a realist, a creator of spectral pop marked by her keening vocals, somnambulant lyrics and dark, cinematic melodies that weave an irresistible spell of joyful melancholy. "I like to write about people who feel like outsiders, people who don't fit in," Aune says. "I don't necessarily think that the people talking the most or the loudest are the ones with the most interesting things to say. I would like to tell the stories of the people operating in the shades. The ones we tend to forget."
Aune's debut album, Billowing Shadows, Flickering Light, was widely praised for its poignant songwriting and heartfelt vocals when it was released in Norway last year. Her dream-like lyrics and the subtle playing of her backing band insinuate themselves into your psyche like the whispered reassurances of an old friend, touching your heart and opening your eyes to the bittersweet joys and sorrows of everyday life.
The record was made with her touring band -
Hanna Furuseth, violin; Katrine Schioett, cello; Ida Loevli Hidle, accordion; Heida Karine Johannesdottir Mobeck, tuba; Hans Hulbaekmo, drums and Aune on piano and harmonium - at Ocean Sound Recordings, in Giske, Norway. Sturla Mio Thórisson (Owen Pallett, CocoRosie, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) produced Aune's final vocals at his studio in Reykjavik. "We've done many of the songs live over the years," Aune says. "In the studio, we decided to free up our playing and see if we could find new ways to approach the songs."
The band's spontaneous explorations infuse the songs with an even deeper sense of longing. "The album is filled with images of light, shadows and ghosts," Aune explains. "The lyrics are vague and metaphorical, full of images, so listeners can make up their own stories about the songs."
Cello, violin and piano play simple repeating melodic figures that ebb and flow to create shimmering overtones that are both melodic and dissonant. Subtle percussion and mysterious subliminal sounds drift through the mix, adding discordant elements to the arrangements. The tuba moans like the foghorn on an ocean liner, the cello and violin play clashing harmonies and Aune's prepared piano creates percussive sounds that bring an unusual texture to the arrangements. "I think music needs a few ugly elements in it to make it sound interesting to me," the artist says.
Unsettling washes of accordion and lyrical acoustic piano open "Chameleon," the story of a painfully introspective young woman dreaming of the happiness she secretly fears. Aune's vocals here are achingly vulnerable, with phrasing that breaks the lyrics into unrecognizable pieces to convey feelings that are beyond words. "In My Quiet Place" starts softly, a pastoral tone poem with Aune's piano, Schioett's cello and Furuseth's violin spinning a gentle spell until Hulbaekmo's drums kick in sending Aune's wordless vocals and Schioett's cello off on a flight of breathless exaltation. The album's heart and soul is conveyed by moody tone poems like "The Lonely Ocean Roar," "Myself as a Child" and "Broken Birds," a showcase for Aune's mournful vocals and Schioett's aching, emotional cello work, but there are flashes of light at work as well. The band breaks out some unexpected high jinx on "We Will Never Be the Ones." Despite a dark, political lyric it's the album's most cheerful track with layers of skittering percussion, toy piano and buoyant tuba playing a skewed tango to support Aune's jubilant declaration: "When we fall, we always rise."
Therese Aune grew up in Oslo, a Norwegian city with a small, but vital, music scene. "Everyone plays in each others bands, and we all help each other out when in need," Aune explains. "If you need a place to rehearse, an amplifier, drum set or piano for a concert, someone will supply it."
When she was 10, she began studying classical piano with a Russian teacher who instilled a sense of discipline and a love of music. She immediately started writing songs and was performing them live by 17. "Myself as a Child" and "We Will Never Be the Ones" were written when she was 15, although she revised the lyrics for this recording. "I love pop music, indie rock, classical minimalists and musicians that keep pushing their own boundaries." She counts Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Beach House, Grizzly Bear,
Efterklang and Hauschka as big influences. When she was offered a gig at the By:Larm Festival in 2010, she lied and told the festival booker she had a band. Under intense deadline pressure, she put together her current backing group, played the gig and went on to play festivals all over Norway, as well as the Berlin Festival, Iceland Airwaves Festival and South by Southwest. The band has also toured Germany and Switzerland, opening for the experimental Norwegian songwriter
Einar Stray and his band and performed two concerts in Moscow. "We all still have day jobs, and we all play in other bands as well, "Aune says. "Our goal is to make our living as musicians, but I'm a stubborn bastard and will never play music I don't like to make money."
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Praise for
Therese Aune
"Aune's raw and haunting voice stands out, falling somewhere between Fiona Apple's harsh power and
Regina Spektor's intimate delicacy." -Max Blau - Paste Magazine
"Her intense, clear voice and the refined arrangements, make "Billowing Shadows, Flickering Light" an album full of ideas, and also one of the more interesting female debuts of the year." - Raffaello Russo -
Music won't save you
On Billowing Shadows, Flickering Light: "[...] sounding like a marriage between Daughter and
Regina Spektor, the album shimmers with crooning female vocals over an often minimal and emotional backdrop." - Jonny Hunter - Muzik Dizcovery
"All though her expressive voice dominates the soundscape, the space around it is filled with a strong sense of artistic effects. A great talent that has an ocean of tools at hand, yet still manages to make music that seems naked and honest." - Hansen - GAFFA
