“I want this album to be an antidote to the darkness that dominates our culture today. I want to show that there’s another way to see reality, if one dares to take the leap of hoping for a more beautiful world.” (Susanne Sundfør)
Five years after Sundfør redefined her career with the folk-inspired, emotionally-effervescent album Music for People In Trouble, the Norwegian musician, artist and producer delves even deeper into her personal mythology on the soul-bearing blómi.
Meaning “to bloom'' in Norse, blómi takes very unique aspects of Susanne’s life story, like the academic work of her grandfather who is a linguist specialising in Semitic languages, and her own life-changing experiences as a new mother, to weave together a colourful tapestry unlike anything she has released to date.
Sundfør wrote blómi, above all, as a love letter to her young daughter, a missive to a precious new life entering an unstable world. In the title track, which is anchored around a lush, driving piano arrangement and skin-tingling saxophones, Susanne imparts all her wisdom to her daughter, urging her to take her words with her through life. Pairing her lyrics with hints of Norse language and mythology, Susanne harks to indigenous Nordic cultures who built matrilineal societies and worshipped divine feminine deities. These roots, this passing from mother to child, is at the core of the music on blómi.
While Susanne’s previous albums, such as Ten Love Songs and The Brothel (which topped the Norwegian charts) established her as a singular voice in Norway’s modern musical history, blómi is a decidedly bold evolutionary jump.
With its 10 expertly crafted tracks of exquisite songwriting, blómi represents a complex and rewarding new chapter in a visionary artist’s established career.
