Beyond memory
Listening to Ane Brun is hard not to feel as being in a Nordic landscape of surfing from calm to the storm with unusual ease. Taking advantage of her concert in Barcelona in February 2010, I had the opportunity to fall into temptation and interview her in the dressing room of the Barcelona’s Sala Becool. Her voice is so gentle and she has a penetrating gaze, Ane is the compass rose turning it into a touching song. After listening to her, nothing will ever be the same. And now Ane comes with some new airs and a new single, Do you remember (2011).
Ane Brun moved from Norway to Sweden, where she actually lives. She also spent some years at different periods in Barcelona, where she improved an impeccable Spanish. After those experiences, seven albums, awards, concerts around the world and the foundation of her own label, Balloon Ranger. Activist for environmental conservation, recently she performed for the cause along with Benny Andersson, ABBA’s legendary keyboardist, and member of the composer duet of some of the best pop songs I've ever heard, Voulez-vous?. The intimate version of their classic SOS performed by Ane and Benny is really touching. But her contact with great figures does not stop with Benny Andersson, because during the interview, charming and enthusiastic, she said: "Today I have confirmed that I will go on tour with Peter Gabriel, so you have a scoop! I will be one of two singers who join with a large orchestra of fifty musicians". And we must add to the list Ron Sexsmith, another huge talent surrendered to the melodic voice of Ane. Together they sing the theme song No. 6 from her debut album Temporary Dive (Determine Records, 2005), also included in Duets (Determine Records, 2005) which is surrounded by colleagues from the Swedish music scene, as Ellekari Larsson from The Tiny.
"If I can avoid interviews I won’t get sad about it” she answered laughing after being questioned about the promotion tasks. She carried at that time under her arm her last Live at Stockholm Concert Hall (Balloon Ranger Recordings, 2009). "I have no preference for studio recording or playing live, they are complementary experiences“. Thus, her discography contains three studio albums and two recorded live along with a demo one and performances with Rebekka Karijord, among others...
Changing of the seasons (Balloon Ranger Recordings, 2008) starts almost whispering "when I woke I took the backdoor of my mind and then I spoke”. She tells me "I talk about personal changes, changes within me”, but there are also many references to nature because "I grew up in Norway and there was the natural environment at the doors of my house". Her crystal poetry sounds vibrant dressed in her beautiful voice. An elegant and minimalist instrumentation is accompanied with a tremendous sense of fragility. "I walk into love, I walk into a minefield I never heard of" while a painful cello sounds in The puzzle. Among her wishes she, humble, expresses "I would write about climate change". The voices painted from pain itself are really moving singing "to let myself go, to let myself flow is the only way of being, there's no use taking a step back”. Ane, you are the lover beauty. Come back soon, singing queen.
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Photos courtesy of Ane Brun
Photos courtesy of Ane Brun