Sounds Of Susanna

A quick guide for Prog readers into the musical world of Susanna Wallumrød…

The album that really established Susanna Wallumrød as a unique interpretive singer was Melody Mountain in 2006, which includes cover versions of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, Prince’s Condition Of The Heart and Sandy Denny’s Fotheringay, but her most remarkable transformation is Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence. When singing it she gets behind the song’s “chill, cool distance” and squeezes every drop of emotion out of the “sore feeling” that lies beneath.

Susanna And The Magical Orchestra’s 3 (2009) is their own take on electronic pop. It found Susanna and Qvenild exploring the capabilities of electronic hardware. “I was very inspired by the sound of these instruments like Moog or Prophet synthesisers,” Wallumrød recalls. On this set of mostly original material the duo created a series of beautifully proportioned, intricate structures like Guiding Star, which incorporates both sunny vocal harmonies and crepuscular keyboard mood swings.

One of the most remarkable of Susanna’s releases is The Forester (2013) with Ensemble neoN. It was commissioned by the new music group with the idea that they would add their arrangements, but this haunting collection also taps into some weird ancestral past. It won the Spellemannprisen, the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy.

Meshes Of Voice found Susanna collaborating with compatriot vocalist Jenny Hval. The two musicians helped themselves to each other’s musical and lyrical ideas, and Anita Kaasbøll and Jo Berger Myhre provide drum and double bass respectively. The latter duo are also credited with “noise and effects” on this dazzling – and rather challenging – suite of soundscaped songs. The line-up only performed twice in 2009, but in 2014 Wallumrød found and listened to the one concert recording and thought, “Oh, it was that good! I’ll put it out!” and it appeared on her SusannaSonata label that year. MB