Susanne Sundfør announces 'Ten Love Songs’

Susanne Sundfør will release her fifth studio album ‘Ten Love Songs’ on 16th February 2015 on Sonnet Sound via Kobalt, and is preceded by new single ‘Fade Away, available now.

Sundfør’s last album ‘The Silicone Veil’ was released in 2012 and went straight to number 1 in Norway, it was also her debut UK release and garnered huge critical acclaim, "...utterly arresting" **** (Mojo), "... a window-bending face-melter of a voice, it’s quite stunning" (Q), and Uncut said of ‘White Foxes’ the single "If there is a more beautiful and ambitious song this year than 'White Foxes'... well, there just isn’t.” She then played a string of sold out UK live shows, ending with a support show for M83 at Somerset House.

Such acclaim encouraged a series of new collaborations. With Anthony Gonzalez of M83 Susanne co-wrote and sung the title theme to Joe Kosinski's film ‘Oblivion’, starring Tom Cruise. Fellow Norwegians Röyksopp, invited Susanne to collaborate on their new album ’The Inevitable End', resulting in lead vocals on 'Running to the Sea' and ‘Save Me’. Together they also covered Depeche Mode’s ‘Ice Machine’ for the duo’s ‘Late Night Tales’ compilation and earlier this year Susanne stepped back into the live arena as a special guest on the Röyksopp & Robyn ‘Do It Again’ tour. James Chapman of Maps approached Sundfør to remix his single ‘AMA’, and she then produced the debut album ‘The Urge Drums’ from Canadian-Norwegian duo Bow to Each Other.

With the insight gained from these collaborations and production duties Susanne decided to tackle the new album primarily on her own terms.. Though ‘Ten Love Songs’ draws on the musical assistance both of new friends and old, (including Anthony Gonzalez of M83, Svein and Torbjorn from Röyksopp, her long-term collaborator Lars Horntveth of Jaga Jazzist, and the Trondheimsolistene Chamber Ensemble) the album was essentially recorded, orchestrated and produced by Sundfør herself, resulting in what is arguably her most compelling and fully realised work to date.

"To me, love isn’t always what it seems. When I first started to work on the album, I wanted to make an album about violence, and then, as I was writing the songs, there were violent aspects, but they were usually about love or relationships, how you connect with other people. And in the end, that turned out to be 10 love songs.” (Susanne Sundfør)

“So, it’s definite, then”.

These are the words that open ’Ten Love Songs' on the hymnal track ‘Darlings'. Casual but incredibly bleak, the inquiry sets the scene for a record that looks unblinkingly at the contradictions, hopes and fears, and the capacity both for rapture and betrayal that the human heart encompasses. Yet does so in a variety of musical ways. Whilst tracks such as 'Slowly' and the first single ‘Fade Away’ incorporate an 80’s influence with their pop fuelled production, upbeat drums and classic keyboard sounds, other tracks such as 'Delirious' and 'Insects' hint at a much darker musical style, incorporating a hard-edged electronic sound, that at times almost borders on the Industrial. The album’s centrepiece though is ‘Memorial’. A giant, 10-minute piece of a song, which sees Susanne's own vocal give way to a heartbreakingly beautiful and forlorn fantasia for chamber orchestra and piano that, though wordless, expresses longing, dejection and pain as powerfully as any words could. ‘Memorial’ epitomises the ambition of the album as a whole. And its central refrain – “You took off my dress and you never put it on again” – captures the vulnerability, self-knowledge and candour at the heart of Susanne’s songwriting.

“People try to describe their emotions with numbers today, and in terms of science, which I feel is like the religion of today. It is very taboo to be a vulnerable person. It’s almost like the biggest weakness today is to be a human being, because everything around us is about perfection, as if we’re trying to be like robots.” (Susanne Sundfør)

Musically the album pulls Susanne closer to pop terrain than she has been before, yet it also sings with the artistic freedom that has always characterised her work, the music constantly subverted as her experimental inclinations blur the pop picture.

‘Ten Love Songs’ begins with a lament and ends with a stark reminder of a world without love. What ‘Ten Love Songs’ cost Sundfør we can never know but her fearless honesty and extraordinary talent makes this album one of the most compelling and anticipated releases of 2015.

Tracklisting:

1. Darlings
2. Accelerate
3. Fade Away
4. Silencer
5. Kamikaze
6. Memorial
7. Delirious
8. Slowly
9. Trust Me
10. Insects