Ane Brun |
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Magic started to occur for me within the first few seconds of album opener, ‘Humming One of Your Songs’. Whenever I get so caught up in the first fifteen seconds of a record that I then want to hear every song ever written by the artist, then I’ve learned to accept that I’m usually in for a disappointment. Rare it is for anyone to be as mind-blowing as those few moments, and perhaps Ane Brun is just the latest to fall into this category. To be fair, though, Spending Time With Morgan, the debut album from this Norwegian folk/alt.country songwriter isn’t such a terrible disappointment. No album with ‘Humming One of Your Songs’ could ever be classed as terrible thanks to its lovely steel string guitar playing and melodies. If it has any fault at all, it’s simply that it originally shows a lot of edge, promising to be a song with guts that comes together on various levels, eventually offering years of satisfaction, whereas it then turns in on itself and throws away part of that edginess by becoming just too damn nice.
At times the guitar-playing is beautiful, though. ‘Are They Saying Goodbye’, ‘On Off’, ‘One More Time’, and ‘Wooden Body’ are all perfect examples of what is so powerful yet intimate about great female songwriters, and exactly what I was looking to hear. Like bits of an acoustic Kristin Hersh, or a tamed Erin McKeown, there are some special moments that make the album so worthwhile, and it feels like Ane Brun is performing for you and only you.
If there is to be a downside at all, which I guess there is as I am writing it, it’s that songs like ‘Shot My Heart’ and ‘So You Did it Again’ sacrifice the delicate guitar picking for a more mainstream Americana band sound, which throws the mood completely. The songs aren’t bad. They just blatantly stand out as having more commercial appeal, and suddenly it all feels less personal or special.
With Spending Time With Morgan, Ane Brun came close to becoming not only a cult singer/songwriter in Scandinavia but also across the world. As it played out, however, it’s become more apparent that she’s perhaps more likely to achieve a more commercial form of success, which at least would be deserved more than many artists. Should that be punished? Certainly not. Within the genres of folk and Americana, it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in 2004 that keeps pulling me back for more listens. Yet I can’t help thinking it’s still likely to be more of a passing phase in my life rather than an emotional attachment built to last. Maybe it’s too early to speculate on that, but we shall see.
Steven McCarron
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