Susanne Sundfør has spoken to NME about her new album ‘Blómi’, and the way it was impressed by discovering distraction within the outdated world away from the political divisions of contemporary society.
The acclaimed Norwegian singer-songwriter and Röyksopp collaborator launched her sixth album on Friday (April 28), following on from 2017’s acclaimed ‘Music For People In Trouble‘.
With the predecessor impressed by Sundfør’s personal emotional battles reflecting the planet in peril, she mentioned that her new file appears for gentle within the darkness as an alternative – not that the world is in an any higher state of affairs.
“Are we more in trouble now than in 2017? I think we are, but it’s more about polarisation than the state of the world anymore,” she informed NME. “There are a whole lot of issues that might go mistaken, however the largest hazard is ourselves and our capacity to have civilised conversations and hold attempting to speak throughout political realms.
“Personally, I’ve fallen out with people because we’ve had different opinions on political matters and I find that really sad. On that point, we’re in a worse state than when ‘Music For People In Trouble’ came out.”
One of the principle causes for societal divisions, argued Sundfør, is the misinformation and tradition wars created by mainstream media.
“I started looking into things and came to the conclusion that the world is run by lizards,” she laughed. “I’m joking in fact, however we’re in a a lot worse place it appears. For some cause, we consider extra within the media right this moment than we used to. I grew up with folks taking the media with a grain of salt, however now I really feel like right this moment we ask much less questions.
“I find that really worrying, and I think it’s surprising that we don’t talk more about that. I understand that it’s in the shadows of this war we’re going through in Europe.”
This mentality has left to divisions even inside political spectrums, she argued. “I think the left is really struggling right now because it’s becoming polarised from within,” mentioned Sundfør. “I discover that actually unhappy. Parts of it have turn into fairly inflexible and to some extent puritanical in character. I feel all of us agree on a whole lot of issues, however they see enemies in all places that aren’t essentially there.
“It’s this angst that we’re going through. It’s also the result of what Trump did in America and all of these political waves coming from over there.”
Pointing to inspiration from writers together with Michael Shellenberger, Marija Gimbutas, David Graeber and David Wengrow, Sundfør defined how she wished to encourage folks to search for fact much less in “media in collaboration with governments” and extra in easy and common concepts.
“The album is about trying to revive the mother religion that might have been the original religion at the dawn of civilisation,” she mentioned. “[Marija Gimbutas] writes about this early agricultural society which was in Europe before the Indo-Europeans. They lived peacefully and were matriarchal, focussing on the mother and child. That was the centre of society. You still have these societies and they’re so harmonic. I just want to celebrate that kind of society and the mythology of those cultures on this album.”
She continued: “A lot of us are really yearning to have local communities again because everything has become so globalised and digitised. Socialising is through screens, and I think that’s detrimental to our health. We’re a very social species and that’s how we evolved. We’re dependent on each other and I don’t think a screen can replace physical contact with a human being.”
While her native Norway is usually praised for a way of ‘community’ and social democracy, Sundfør was eager to emphasize that her fellow Norwegians had been “just people like everyone.”
“We’re a young nation, built on these very social democratic principles,” she mentioned. “I’ve this sense that a whole lot of Norwegians assume, ‘Everybody deserves the identical, so I ought to try to get as a lot as potential out of this.
“There’s a weird mix of saying that you’re a socialist but also trying to milk the cow for whatever it’s worth. It’s a broad generalisation and not about every single Norwegian, but sometimes I feel like that rosey-eyed view of Norway isn’t always correct.”
A way of nationwide id does run all through ‘Blómi’, nevertheless – drawing upon historic Norse language and mythology.
“The Norse titles are a link to my grandpa, who’s on the cover,” she revealed. “He used to be a linguist and study dead languages originating from the Middle East. He’s fluent in Hebrew and Arabic. He’s super talented and was super controversial in Norwegian academia. My mother is a retired linguist as well, and she studied English and German. We’re a dorky nerdy language family, so it’s a celebration of that, but the album is also about roots.”
blómi is my new album and shall be launched on April twenty eighth.
Photo by Janne Ruglandhttps://t.co/XzEYBml0Rd pic.twitter.com/oCkuOeFqT7
— Susanne Sundfør (@susannesundfor) February 23, 2023
The thought of roots and group led to a extra “organic” sound on the file, she mentioned, constructing on the folks sounds of ‘Music For People In Trouble’ and a distant cry from the dancefloor leaning 2015 album ‘Ten Love Songs’.
‘Ten Love Songs’ grew to become my hottest file, but it surely was extra like an experiment for me,” she mentioned. “I wanted to make a pop album because before I had made more folk-inspired music. It was more like a detour, but that’s not how it’s seen because ‘Ten Love Songs’ is seen as such a central part of my career.”
She continued: “We’re losing our place in the world and everything is being taken over by technology,” she mentioned of what impressed the sounds of her new file. “There’s one thing to be mentioned of trying again at custom. Not in a conservative manner, however honouring what our ancestors realized via the centuries.
“Not only looking forward through progress, but bringing our heritage with us as we move on into this strange, technological world that we’re moving into.”
However, followers would have loved Sundfør’s extra pop-oriented moods lately via her continued long-running collaboration with Röyksopp – lending her vocals to various songs throughout their ‘Profound Mysteries’ trilogy.
“They’re lovely – it’s such an honour to work with them and they’re so talented,” she mentioned of her relationship with the dance duo. “We all have those different traits in us. Sometimes we want to dance and sometimes we want to do more soul-searching. Maybe white people aren’t always that comfortable on the dancefloor, but the urge is always within us.”
Regarding upcoming stay dates, Sundfør is hoping to announce gigs within the US, UK and Europe quickly after a run of Norwegian dates – the place she’ll be elevating the natural parts of the album and “appreciat[ing] the value of finding a human beat together.”
“I’m bringing 14 musicians with me on stage,” she mentioned. “I’m bringing six singers on top of instrumentalists who are also singing. There will be a lot of vocals. “Going on stage and playing things 100 per cent live is so much of a better experience for everyone.”
“We’ll play songs from the new album, but also the greatest hits. It’s going to be a nice mixture.”
‘Blómi’ is out now. Susanne Sundfør embarks on a run of tour dates in Norway this summer season, together with an look at Oslo’s Øya Festival in August alongside the likes of Blur, Boygenius, Pusha T, Wizkid and extra.