Ane Brun

After The Great Storm

Though ANE BRUN has been kept busy the last few years by the release of multiple of songs and albums, those who follow her more closely will have noticed something unusual about the always productive, ever innovative artist’s work: she’s not released a collection of new original music since 2015’s acclaimed When I’m Free, which took her to the top of the charts both in her native Norway and her adopted homeland of Sweden.

Fortunately, that’s about to change, something she’s hinted at since March with the arrival of one new song a month. Furthermore, if the absence of new material was masked by her activities, the largesse of her comeback is conspicuous: released on October 30, 2020, AFTER THE GREAT STORM, her eighth album, is the first of not one but two records, with her ninth album, HOW BEAUTY HOLDS THE HAND OF SORROW, due a month later on November 27, 2020. The long wait, in other words, has been doubly worth it, though there’s inevitably a sad but significant reason for the lengthy interval that preceded both collections.

“Making an album always involved digging deep into myself,” BRUN explains. “I deal with everything that happens in my life – relationships, changes, challenges – through writing music. But when my father passed away in 2016 I neither could, nor wanted to. It was a strange experience: I’m a very process-and-digest kind of person. I work on my issues, and I move forward. But, in the grief of losing a parent, it didn’t work. I couldn’t find the right tools in my toolbox, and there was no solution. My father was gone. It took me some time to understand that time itself was the key.”

Though she’d first tried writing a new record a year earlier, it wasn’t until summer 2019 that Brun was able fully to unlock her imagination. Retreating to a cabin deep in the Norwegian mountains, she revelled in a three-week burst of creativity which gave birth to almost all of the two albums’ songs. “I had a list of topics, ideas and sketches written down,” she says, “and worked my way through them, one by one. And on the day when that last idea on the list became a finished song, I closed the door and knew I had nothing more I needed to say. It was an almost physical feeling. I felt simultaneously empty and fulfilled…”

Afterwards, her energy remained undimmed. By early 2020, BRUN had almost finished recording, mostly at Stockholm’s Atlantis Studios and Studio Bruket, home to Tonbruket and the studio where musician and co-producer Martin Hederos – who also co-wrote a number of songs – and Studio Bruket’s own house sound technician Anton Sundell (co-producer on BRUN’s 2017’s covers collection Leave Me Breathless) reside. BRUN put together a co-producing trio consisting of herself, Sundell and Hederos for both albums, and, in addition, she notes the presence of fellow Tonbruket members Johan Lindström and Dan Berglund, an amazing collection of five brilliant drummers, and bass player Felisia Westberg. She also singles out Per Eklund, who drums on the album and co-produced ´We Need a Mother´, as well as Samuel Starck, who created many of the signature synth sounds on several songs and co-producted ‘Take Hold of Me’. The results emphasise the remarkable spread of her work, from quiet piano ballads or deft slices of airy pop to some of her most bold, extravagant songs ever.

“On When I’m Free,” BRUN elaborates, “we ended up lingering in post-production doing a lot of cut and paste, adding layers and instrumentation. It was really hard work, and it was worth it. But I wanted to try something else this time, more like It All Starts With One (2011), by trying to make the magic happen there and then, live in the studio. We wanted real instruments to somehow play the role of machines, and to create beats that felt programmed but were still played by musicians.”

With eighteen songs united by common themes, BRUN’s original intention was for a double album, but, as lockdown kicked in, spare time imposed by the pandemic led her to reassess this concept. So, while she and her team administered final touches remotely, she added one last song, before separating the recordings into two collections, distinguished by contrasting moods. Both, of course, are quintessentially BRUN, but the more upbeat AFTER THE GREAT STORM – which finds her in questing mode, drawing upon her experiences both in performance and in collaboration, her crystal-clear, affecting voice haunted by electronic and analogue textures – will delight those who’ve tracked her constant stylistic reinventions. HOW BEAUTY HOLDS THE HAND OF SORROW, meanwhile – though it, too, explores fresh techniques and styles – will be more familiar to those who recall BRUN as the emotional, guitar-picking singer-songwriter who emerged at the turn of the century.

“I still very much love a gorgeous string arrangement, an acoustic guitar, or a dusty night piano,” she continues, “but I wanted to combine these with new sounds and ways of writing. Somehow the scope of music I’m creating today reflects my taste more accurately than ever before, since the music I listen to is very varied, from acoustic music to experimental instrumental music, electronica, jazz, pop music, classical music, and everything in between.”

Thus, the emotionally charged ‘Don’t Run And Hide’, the first track she wrote (and soon a signpost for the sessions), and ‘Honey’’s laidback, soulful grooves – inspired by a rediscovered cassette she made aged 18 for a pen pal – reflect BRUN’s love of trip hop, but also acknowledge contemporary acts including SiR, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson Paak and Solange. ‘Take Hold Of Me’, which nods to The Knife’s ‘Silent Shout’, is also shaped by a love for dance music, whether tunes heard in her early 90s youth or her recent collaborations. ‘Crumbs’, though, employs Jennie Abrahamson and Linnea Olsson to add a redemptive note missing from the co-dependent but unfulfilling relationship it addresses, and ‘Feeling Like I Wanna Cry’ examines, in suitably moving fashion, another unsuccessful relationship, this time mankind’s with the environment. ‘Fingerprints’, meanwhile, poignantly speaks to “how the ones you lose somehow exist within you even when they’re gone,” the purity of BRUN’s vocals superbly showcased amid a luxurious string arrangement’s subtle but breath-taking chord changes.

As is typical with BRUN, AFTER THE GREAT STORM is both intimate and universal, often simultaneously, not least on its velveteen title track, which seems especially resonant thanks to its description of “the feeling that can come after a great ordeal, when everything is over and you almost reach a state of euphoria and lightness. It’s like what people describe when they’ve had a near death experience, or an epiphany: the feeling of being part of a bigger universe.” Such a sensation is doubtless one for which we all currently hunger, and ‘We Need A Mother’, which closes the album in mournful but optimistic style, highlights why. A call for overdue unity embellished by sounds from around the globe, it finds BRUN especially forthright, declaring “I am offended by a lack of human decency.”

The song could have been precipitated by all manner of things, but was originally inspired by a corporate business conference she attended, where, in the opening speech, the importance of climate action was discussed before, BRUN remembers, “the night ended with enormous fireworks, costing millions, exploding over the water. It reminded me of how we as individuals, businesses and societies so often practice double standards when it comes to our values and priorities, myself included; how hard it is to live a wholesome, sustainable life; and how we as grown-up humans can act like adolescents, and it seems like we need mature leaders to keep us on the right track. I remember feeling so frustrated and upset, and when I woke up the next day I wrote this song. After I had finished, I felt relieved and calm.”

These are feelings provoked throughout the timeless, timely AFTER THE GREAT STORM, which, despite a prolonged gestation, arrives at an unusually perfect moment. “Both albums deal with the bigger questions in life,” BRUN acknowledges, “but in 2020 these questions have become even bigger. Even though I wrote most of them before this whole pandemic started, I feel they all have a message that fits the situation we’re in: frustration over the state of the world, how to grieve for a loved one, existentialism, love, relationships, loneliness, inner struggles, sleepless nights… I guess they’re just about being human.”

Being human, naturally, means we need comfort and community, and BRUN has taken time to plot another unforgettable path towards them. AFTER THE GREAT STORM maps that route. However much has changed, whatever you knew of her before, be sure to pay attention.

CREDITS

Honey
Music and Lyrics: Ane Brun
Vocals: Ane Brun
Drums and percussion: Per Eklund, Anna Lund
Percussion: John Ericsson, Ane Brun
Bass: Felisia Westberg
Keys: Martin Hederos, Johan Lindström, Samuel Stark
Flute: Nils Berg and Per «Texas» Johansson
Backing Vocals: Linnea Olsson, Ane Brun
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell, Janne Hansson
Mixed and mastered by Engine Earz
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

After The Great Storm
Music: Ane Brun, Martin Hederos
Lyrics: Ane Brun
Published by Ane Brun Publishing / Sony ATV Music Publishing
Vocals: Ane Brun
Drums and percussion: Ola Winkler, Josefin Runsteen
Keys and synths: Martin Hederos, Samuel Starck
Backing vocals: Elle-Kari Sander
Strings: Daniel Migdal, Anders Nilsson, Jannika Gustafsson, Henrik Naimark, Oscar Treitler, Danial Shariati, Olof Ander, Ylvali Zilliacus, Amalie Stalheim, Andreas Lavotha, Anders Öberg, Riikka Repo, Filip Graden
String arrangement: Martin Hederos
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell, Janne Hansson
Mixed by Anton Sundell
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

Don’t Run and Hide
Music and Lyrics: Ane Brun
Vocals: Ane Brun
Drums and percussion: Per Eklund, Anna Lund
Percussion: Ola Winkler
Keys and synths: Martin Hederos, Samuel Starck
Piano: Martin Hederos
Backing Vocals: Ane Brun
Strings: Daniel Migdal, Anders Nilsson, Jannika Gustafsson, Henrik Naimark, Oscar Treitler, Danial Shariati, Olof Ander, Ylvali Zilliacus, Amalie Stalheim, Andreas Lavotha, Anders Öberg, Riikka Repo, Filip Graden
String Arrangements: Daniel Migdal
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell, Janne Hansson
Mixed and mastered by Engine Earz
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

Crumbs
Music and Lyrics: Ane Brun
Drums and percussion: Ola Winkler and Anna Lund
Bass: Dan Berglund
Keys and synths: Martin Hederos and Samuel Starck
Piano: Martin Hederos
Saxophone: Nils Berg
Backing vocals: Jennie Abrahamsson, Linnea Olsson, Ane Brun
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell, Janne Hansson
Mixed by Anton Sundell
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

Feeling Like I Wanna Cry
Music by Ane Brun, Martin Hederos
Lyrics by Ane Brun
Vocals and backing vocals: Ane Brun
Drums: Josefin Runsteen
Keys and Synth: Martin Hederos
Synths: Samuel Starck
Strings: Daniel Migdal, Anders Nilsson, Jannika Gustafsson, Henrik Naimark, Oscar Treitler, Danial Shariati, Olof Ander, Ylvali Zilliacus, Amalie Stalheim, Andreas Lavotha, Anders Öberg, Riikka Repo, Filip Graden
String arrangement: Josefin Runsteen
Recorded at Studio Bruket by Anton Sundell
Mixed by Anton Sundell
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

Take Hold Of Me
Music by Ane Brun, Martin Hederos, Josefin Runsteen
Lyrics by Ane Brun
Vocals and backing vocals: Ane Brun
Keys and Synths: Martin Hederos, Samuel Starck
Piano: Samuel Starck
Programming: Samuel Starck
Drums: Josefin Runsteen, Ola Winkler
Recorded at Atlantis studios by Anton Sundell and Janne Hansson
Mixed a by Fredrik Okazaki
Produced by Ane Brun, Samuel Starck, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

Fingerprints
Music by Ane Brun, Martin Hederos
Lyrics by Ane Brun
Vocals: Ane Brun
Drums and percussion: Ola Winkler, Josefin Runsteen
Bass: Dan Berglund
Keys and synths: Martin Hederos, Samuel Starck
Piano: Martin Hederos
Bass clarinet: Per ”Texas” Johansson
Strings: Daniel Migdal, Anders Nilsson, Jannika Gustafsson, Henrik Naimark, Oscar Treitler, Danial Shariati, Olof Ander, Ylvali Zilliacus, Amalie Stalheim, Andreas Lavotha, Anders Öberg, Riikka Repo, Filip Graden
String Arrangement: Martin Hederos
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell, Janne Hansson
Mixed by Anton Sundell
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

The waiting
Music by Ane Brun
Lyrics: Ane Brun
Vocals: Ane Brun
Drums and percussion: Per Eklund, Anna Lund
Snares: John Eriksson
Keys and synths: Martin Hederos, Samuel Starck
Bass Clarinet and saxophone: Per ”Texas” Johansson
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell, Janne Hansson
Mixed and mastered by Engine Earz
Produced by Ane Brun, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos

We Need A Mother
Music and lyrics by Ane Brun
Vocals: Ane Brun
Backing vocals: Ane Brun, Sara Parkman
Percussion: Per Eklund
Drums: Ola Winkler, Anna Lund
Synths: Samuel Starck, Johan Lindström, Martin Hederos, Per Eklund
Programming: Per Eklund
Piano: Martin Hederos
Violin: Martin Hederos
Recorded at Atlantis Studion by Anton Sundell and Janne Hansson
Mixed by Anton Sundell
Produced by Ane Brun, Per Eklund, Anton Sundell, Martin Hederos