Even when Edda released her debut album back in early 2010, there were plans for a collaboration with Adrian Recordings, and now it’s all been fixed we are immensely proud to present Edda Magnason’s new album “Goods”.Open the cover and take out the salmon pink booklet with the black print. Sit back and immerse yourself in another reality. Just like on the last album, Edda guides you around with her vivid lyrics and her adventurous voice, but on “Goods” it’s no longer just Edda’s piano playing that forms the musical backbone; now there’s full orchestration, strange keyboards, electric sitars and choirs of Russian sailors.
The music moves us through cities and jungles, down to the harbor where the trawlers are leaving for Japan. Edda’s distinctive piano playing leads us into back streets with garbage dumps and magpies’ nests. From a disco booms “Handsome” from the dance floor, and then we’re taken out on a sailing trip over rolling waves, escalating up to the star strewn “Ancient Star My Innocent Heart”.
Edda’s lyrics are primarily depictions; sometimes they are magical situations from everyday life, sometimes whole stories are being told. In the playful lyrics you can occasionally even sense a political undertone, as in “Magpie’s Nest”:
“The reapers wrap the crops in silk and put it on a cargo ship / They open up another tin with baked beans, for dinner, breakfast and for lunch / The artists sell their love songs to baby diapers, jeans and cars / And deep down into the garbage, I found a golden cookie jar”
Sometimes there are no words at all and then the music tells the whole story, as in “Hur Jag Föreställer Mig Det Är Att Segla (How I Imagine Sailing)” or the song “Camera” where the single line, “Have you seen the world in that one million camera?” transports us to a new place on earth each time it is sung.
“I had all the lyrics and the music ready, but tried to avoid getting stuck in carefully thought out arrangements before coming to the studio. In the best of partnerships it’s not about two people’s isolated wills; it’s about getting into a shared mindset which makes both people think up new ideas. This is how I have experienced working with Christoffer,” says Edda about her collaboration with Christoffer Lundquist with whom she produced the album.
“Recording this album has almost been too much fun to talk about – it’s so much easier to discuss things that have gone wrong! The recording situation has been exciting the whole time – all the original keyboards in the studio, for example, have meant that we didn’t need to break off and search through interminable samples to find the best ones. That sort of thing takes energy from recording and stops the flow. “Goods” is more reminiscent in many ways of the recordings I did with my portastudio in my teens, than the last album that I recorded with Caprice on Nybrokajen in Stockholm.”
Edda has made the album cover herself and worked on it while recording the album.
“Some illustrations I did when I wrote the songs. Others came when we were ready with arranging them. The flamenco dancer for “One Man Show” was made after a morning in the studio when we’d created our own Riverdance. In “Falling Alseep To A Kitchen Conversation”, the picture came first and then the song.”
The pianist, singer and songwriter Edda Magnason grew up in the countryside of southern Sweden. Her father comes, as her name suggests, from Iceland. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2010 and now we are releasing “Goods”, her second album, along with her first single “Handsome” and an amazing video.
“Edda Magnason” is one of the best albums of 2010 according to Svenska Dagbladet: “A stylish and quirky melting pot of jazz, folk, pop. Edda Magnason emerges as a musical personality of great stature, intuitive, intelligent and poetic. Lyrics, composition, vocals, piano playing, arrangement – everything is at a high artistic level. ” Ingrid Strömdahl
Sydsvenskan gives this debut album 4 out of 5: “Elegant, charming and deeply personal. Edda Magnason serves playful and precisely balanced songs, with a voice and brilliant piano playing that have been interwoven into an organic whole. ” Alexander Agrell
Artikel av Anders Lundquist(English version below.)
Edda Magnasons debutskiva liknar inget annat du hört. Den är originell – men på ett osökt och väldigt självklart sätt. Musiken, texterna och CD-häftets illustrationer tar med dig på en resa med många spännande delmål. En resa som du kommer att upptäcka att du gärna gör om.
Pianisten, sångerskan och låtskrivaren Edda Magnason är uppvuxen på landet i Skåne tillsammans med sin mamma, sina syskon och styvfar. Hennes pappa kommer, som hennes namn antyder, från Island, där han jobbar som veterinär i ett litet samhälle 70 mil från Reykjavik. – En dröm vore om skivan skulle finnas att köpa på den lokala Shell-macken där, ler Edda.
Hon kommer inte från någon utpräglad musikfamilj.– Mamma sattes på pianokonservatiorium som barn men fick inte ”klinka” hemma. Min uppväxt var en motreaktion till det, jag fick leka hur mycket jag ville med pianot och det var aldrig någon som bad mig vara tyst.
Ett tidigt musikaliskt minne var när hon i femårsåldern gjorde en upptäckt:
– Jag märkte att om man tog varannan tangent samtidigt så lät det jättefint, men om man slog an de som låg närmast bredvid varandra så lät det fult. Hon ropade på sin mamma och frågade om hennes upptäckt stämde. ”Ja, men jag tycker att det låter rätt fräckt om man tar de som är intill varandra också” svarade mamman.
– Det är typiskt henne, säger Edda, hon skiljer inte på högt och lågt. Jag var själv alltid lyckligt ovetande om vad man ”skulle” tycka, vi befann oss ute på landet, långt ifrån alla innekretsar. Edda började känna sig fram på det gamla ostämda pianot i hemmet, hon plankade psalmer och mejslade snart fram egna små stycken. – Ingen har någonsin lagt sig i den musikaliska delen av mitt liv, det blev tidigt en frizon, en ljus och oproblematisk sida av livet.
Edda är fläckvist skolad som musiker. – Jag har försökt. Studerade i perioder, för det har funnits många som ”velat lära mig” men på något märkligt vis har jag alltid kommit undan. När jag inte hade gjort pianoläxan brukade jag blidka min pianolärare med att spela upp en egen låt och då tyckte hon att jag var duktig och glömde att jag inte gjort det jag egentligen skulle.
Hon beskriver sitt komponerande som musikalisk logistik, man känner sig fram och ser vilka pusselbitar som passar ihop. – Jag har svårt för saker som recept, manualer och noter – jag är väldigt självsvåldig, ler hon.
Hur Edda ”upptäcktes” är en lustig historia.
– Efter en i mitt tycke gräslig konsert i Malmö, där jag satt med ett elpiano och sjöng till en dåligt imiterad kontrabas som jag spelat in på sequencern, kom en kvinna fram och sa ”maila min man. Säg att hans fru tycker att du är grym”. Edda mailade och hälsade från frun. Maken, som visade sig vara musikern och producenten Jonas André, älskade hennes musik. Snart var Edda kontrakterad till Rikskonserters skivbolag Caprice, som välkomnade hennes svårtetiketterade stilblandning.
Det var för tio år sedan, vid femton års ålder, som hon skaffade en digital portastudio. Det blev en vändpunkt: hon slutade öva klassiskt piano och började skriva sångbaserade poplåtar som hon gjorde demos på.
– Jag kom in i en drömvärld och började skriva texter. Jag satt uppe på kvällarna och läste engelska lexikon som rena poesin. Eftersom jag aldrig hade rest eller hade någon personlig förankring i språket, kunde jag bli vem jag ville och det kändes som jag hade hela världen i min hand. Hon gick omkring med portan i en silvrig verktygsväska och lyssnade på Björk, Supertramp, Frank Zappa, den portugisiska jazzsångerskan Maria João och Esbjörn Svensson. – Jag spelade aldrig i punkband och sånt, tonårstiden spenderade jag mest med att leta ambienceljud och göra pålägg som jag dränkte i effekter, jag var helt besatt av att spela in på den där lilla maskinen!
– Embryot till albumet växte fram när jag insåg att jag inte behövde skilja på mina poplåtar och instrumentalmusiken. Portan gick sönder och jag gick tillbaka till pianot. Det kunde smyga sig in minnen av barnvisor av Georg Riedel och svensk folkmusik – saker som jag inte medvetet har lyssnat på – men som tydligen påverkat mig en hel del ändå.
Om man ska sammanfatta känslan som genomsyrar Eddas debutalbum är det lekfullhet och äventyrlighet. Det finns en flyhänt fräschör i melodierna som gör att de låter tillgängliga och lättspelade även om de förmodligen skulle upplevas som intrikata ifall en annan musiker skulle ta sig an dem. Skivan presenterar en sömlös blandning av jazz, pop, visa och klassiskt. Vissa texter berättar en historia, andra är mer impressionistiska och låter antyda hennes förtjusning för haiku-dikter. Några av styckena är helt instrumentala, ögonblick där hon känner absolut genremässig frihet.
Den estetiskt multibegåvade Edda har också en uppenbar känsla för det visuella. Resultatet kan bland annat avnjutas via de fina, detaljerade illustrationerna som återfinns i CD-häftet. Ibland söta, ofta spännande och liksom förklarande och fantasieggande på en och samma gång. Precis som musiken.
English version - translated by Jenny Sundberg
Pianist, singer and songwriter Edda Magnason grew up in the countryside in southern Sweden with her mother, siblings and stepfather. Her father comes, as her name suggests, from Iceland, where he works as a vet in a small town 400 miles from Reykjavik. “A dream of mine is that one day the album will be on sale at the local Shell gas station there”, smiles Edda.
She does not come from a particularly musical family. “Mum had piano lessons as a child but wasn’t allowed to “clink around” at home. My upbringing was a reaction to that. I got to play around on the piano as much as I wanted and there was never anyone who asked me to be quiet”.
An early musical memory was the discovery she made at the age of five.
“I noticed that if you played alternate keys at the same time it sounded really beautiful, but if you took the adjacent ones it sounded ugly. She called to her mother and asked if her discovery was correct. “Yes, but I think it sounds pretty cool if you play the keys that are next to each other too,” replied her mother.
“That’s typical of my mother, “says Edda, “she does not differentiate between high and low. I myself was always blissfully unaware of what one “should” think. We were out in the countryside, far from all the cultural in crowds. Edda began to feel her way on the old untuned piano at home; she borrowed from hymns and soon crafted together her own small pieces. “Nobody has ever interfered with the musical part of my life. It soon became a free zone, a light and uncomplicated side of life.”
Edda’s musical training has been patchy. “I have tried. Studied in periods, because there were many who “wanted to teach me” but in some strange way, I have always escaped. When I hadn’t practiced for my piano lesson, I used to placate my piano teacher by playing one of my own songs and then she thought I was clever and forgot that I hadn’t done what I actually should”.
She describes her composing as musical logistics; you feel your way and see which puzzle pieces fit together. “I have a problem with things like recipes, manuals and sheet music. I’m a law unto myself,” she smiles.
How Edda was “discovered” is an amusing story.
After a terrible concert in my opinion in Malmö, where I sat with an electric piano and sang to a poorly imitated bass that I’d recorded on the sequencer, a woman came up and said, “Mail my husband. Say his wife thinks you are awesome. ” Edda mailed him and sent his wife’s regards. The husband, who turned out to be the musician and producer Jonas André, loved her music. Edda was soon contracted to the national Swedish concert label, Caprice, who welcomed her difficult-to-label blend of styles.
It was ten years ago, at the age of fifteen, that she bought a digital Portastudio. That was a turning point: she stopped practicing classical piano and began writing song-based pop music that she made into demos.
“I entered a dream world and began writing lyrics. I sat up at night and read English dictionaries like pure poetry. Since I had never travelled or had any personal roots in the language, I could be who I wanted and it felt like I had the whole world in my hand. She walked around with the Portostudio in a silver tool bag and listened to Björk, Supertramp, Frank Zappa, the Portuguese jazz singer Maria João and Esbjörn Svensson. “I never played in punk bands and stuff. In my teenage years I spent most of the time looking for ambient sounds and making overdubs that I drowned in sound effects. I was completely obsessed with recording on that little machine!”
“The embryo of the album grew when I realized I did not need to distinguish between my pop songs and instrumental music. The Portostudio broke and I went back to the piano. Memories of children’s songs by Georg Riedel and Swedish folk music started to creep back – things that I hadn’t consciously listened to – but which apparently influenced me a lot anyway.”
Were one to summarize the feeling that permeates Edda’s debut album it would be playfulness and adventurousness. There is a deft freshness in the melodies that makes them sound accessible and easily played even if they probably would be perceived as difficult if another musician attempted them. The album presents a seamless blend of jazz, pop, folk, and classical. Some lyrics tell a story, others are more impressionistic and suggest her enthusiasm for haiku poems. Some of the pieces are completely instrumental, moments where she feels absolute freedom from all music genres.
The aesthetically gifted Edda also has an obvious flair for the visual. The result can be enjoyed, for example, in the delicate, detailed illustrations, which are to be found in the CD booklet. Sometimes sweet, often exciting, as well as enlightening and fascinating at the same time. Just like the music.
Biography
Presstext för Goods på svenska
English version: (translated by Jenny Sundberg)
Artist: Edda Magnason
Title: Goods
Catalogue number: arcd 127
Label: Adrian Recordings
Press photos: www.adrianrecordings.com/artist.asp?artist=20
www.adrianrecordings.com -> Artists -> Edda Magnason
Even when Edda released her debut album back in early 2010, there were plans for a collaboration with Adrian Recordings, and now it’s all been fixed we are immensely proud to present Edda Magnason’s new album “Goods”.Open the cover and take out the salmon pink booklet with the black print. Sit back and immerse yourself in another reality. Just like on the last album, Edda guides you around with her vivid lyrics and her adventurous voice, but on “Goods” it’s no longer just Edda’s piano playing that forms the musical backbone; now there’s full orchestration, strange keyboards, electric sitars and choirs of Russian sailors.
The music moves us through cities and jungles, down to the harbor where the trawlers are leaving for Japan. Edda’s distinctive piano playing leads us into back streets with garbage dumps and magpies’ nests. From a disco booms “Handsome” from the dance floor, and then we’re taken out on a sailing trip over rolling waves, escalating up to the star strewn “Ancient Star My Innocent Heart”.
Edda’s lyrics are primarily depictions; sometimes they are magical situations from everyday life, sometimes whole stories are being told. In the playful lyrics you can occasionally even sense a political undertone, as in “Magpie’s Nest”:
“The reapers wrap the crops in silk and put it on a cargo ship / They open up another tin with baked beans, for dinner, breakfast and for lunch / The artists sell their love songs to baby diapers, jeans and cars / And deep down into the garbage, I found a golden cookie jar”
Sometimes there are no words at all and then the music tells the whole story, as in “Hur Jag Föreställer Mig Det Är Att Segla (How I Imagine Sailing)” or the song “Camera” where the single line, “Have you seen the world in that one million camera?” transports us to a new place on earth each time it is sung.
“I had all the lyrics and the music ready, but tried to avoid getting stuck in carefully thought out arrangements before coming to the studio. In the best of partnerships it’s not about two people’s isolated wills; it’s about getting into a shared mindset which makes both people think up new ideas. This is how I have experienced working with Christoffer,” says Edda about her collaboration with Christoffer Lundquist with whom she produced the album.
“Recording this album has almost been too much fun to talk about – it’s so much easier to discuss things that have gone wrong! The recording situation has been exciting the whole time – all the original keyboards in the studio, for example, have meant that we didn’t need to break off and search through interminable samples to find the best ones. That sort of thing takes energy from recording and stops the flow. “Goods” is more reminiscent in many ways of the recordings I did with my portastudio in my teens, than the last album that I recorded with Caprice on Nybrokajen in Stockholm.”
Edda has made the album cover herself and worked on it while recording the album.
“Some illustrations I did when I wrote the songs. Others came when we were ready with arranging them. The flamenco dancer for “One Man Show” was made after a morning in the studio when we’d created our own Riverdance. In “Falling Alseep To A Kitchen Conversation”, the picture came first and then the song.”
The pianist, singer and songwriter Edda Magnason grew up in the countryside of southern Sweden. Her father comes, as her name suggests, from Iceland. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2010 and now we are releasing “Goods”, her second album, along with her first single “Handsome” and an amazing video.
“Edda Magnason” is one of the best albums of 2010 according to Svenska Dagbladet:
“A stylish and quirky melting pot of jazz, folk, pop. Edda Magnason emerges as a musical personality of great stature, intuitive, intelligent and poetic. Lyrics, composition, vocals, piano playing, arrangement – everything is at a high artistic level. ”
Ingrid Strömdahl
Sydsvenskan gives this debut album 4 out of 5:
“Elegant, charming and deeply personal. Edda Magnason serves playful and precisely balanced songs, with a voice and brilliant piano playing that have been interwoven into an organic whole. ”
Alexander Agrell
Contact
Label:
Adrian Recordings | +46 (0) 709 – 20 38 53 | magnus@adrianrecordings.com | www.adrianrecordings.com
Press:
Ebba Lindqvist | +46 (0) 704 – 80 33 00 | brev@ebbalindqvist.se | www.ebbalindqvist.se
liza@ebbalindqvist.se | +46 (0) 761 – 17 21 73
Artikel av Anders Lundquist (English version below.)
Edda Magnasons debutskiva liknar inget annat du hört. Den är originell – men på ett osökt och väldigt självklart sätt. Musiken, texterna och CD-häftets illustrationer tar med dig på en resa med många spännande delmål. En resa som du kommer att upptäcka att du gärna gör om.
Pianisten, sångerskan och låtskrivaren Edda Magnason är uppvuxen på landet i Skåne tillsammans med sin mamma, sina syskon och styvfar. Hennes pappa kommer, som hennes namn antyder, från Island, där han jobbar som veterinär i ett litet samhälle 70 mil från Reykjavik. – En dröm vore om skivan skulle finnas att köpa på den lokala Shell-macken där, ler Edda.
Hon kommer inte från någon utpräglad musikfamilj. – Mamma sattes på pianokonservatiorium som barn men fick inte ”klinka” hemma. Min uppväxt var en motreaktion till det, jag fick leka hur mycket jag ville med pianot och det var aldrig någon som bad mig vara tyst.
Ett tidigt musikaliskt minne var när hon i femårsåldern gjorde en upptäckt:
– Jag märkte att om man tog varannan tangent samtidigt så lät det jättefint, men om man slog an de som låg närmast bredvid varandra så lät det fult. Hon ropade på sin mamma och frågade om hennes upptäckt stämde. ”Ja, men jag tycker att det låter rätt fräckt om man tar de som är intill varandra också” svarade mamman.
– Det är typiskt henne, säger Edda, hon skiljer inte på högt och lågt. Jag var själv alltid lyckligt ovetande om vad man ”skulle” tycka, vi befann oss ute på landet, långt ifrån alla innekretsar. Edda började känna sig fram på det gamla ostämda pianot i hemmet, hon plankade psalmer och mejslade snart fram egna små stycken. – Ingen har någonsin lagt sig i den musikaliska delen av mitt liv, det blev tidigt en frizon, en ljus och oproblematisk sida av livet.
Edda är fläckvist skolad som musiker. – Jag har försökt. Studerade i perioder, för det har funnits många som ”velat lära mig” men på något märkligt vis har jag alltid kommit undan. När jag inte hade gjort pianoläxan brukade jag blidka min pianolärare med att spela upp en egen låt och då tyckte hon att jag var duktig och glömde att jag inte gjort det jag egentligen skulle.
Hon beskriver sitt komponerande som musikalisk logistik, man känner sig fram och ser vilka pusselbitar som passar ihop. – Jag har svårt för saker som recept, manualer och noter – jag är väldigt självsvåldig, ler hon.
Hur Edda ”upptäcktes” är en lustig historia.
– Efter en i mitt tycke gräslig konsert i Malmö, där jag satt med ett elpiano och sjöng till en dåligt imiterad kontrabas som jag spelat in på sequencern, kom en kvinna fram och sa ”maila min man. Säg att hans fru tycker att du är grym”. Edda mailade och hälsade från frun. Maken, som visade sig vara musikern och producenten Jonas André, älskade hennes musik. Snart var Edda kontrakterad till Rikskonserters skivbolag Caprice, som välkomnade hennes svårtetiketterade stilblandning.
Det var för tio år sedan, vid femton års ålder, som hon skaffade en digital portastudio. Det blev en vändpunkt: hon slutade öva klassiskt piano och började skriva sångbaserade poplåtar som hon gjorde demos på.
– Jag kom in i en drömvärld och började skriva texter. Jag satt uppe på kvällarna och läste engelska lexikon som rena poesin. Eftersom jag aldrig hade rest eller hade någon personlig förankring i språket, kunde jag bli vem jag ville och det kändes som jag hade hela världen i min hand. Hon gick omkring med portan i en silvrig verktygsväska och lyssnade på Björk, Supertramp, Frank Zappa, den portugisiska jazzsångerskan Maria João och Esbjörn Svensson. – Jag spelade aldrig i punkband och sånt, tonårstiden spenderade jag mest med att leta ambienceljud och göra pålägg som jag dränkte i effekter, jag var helt besatt av att spela in på den där lilla maskinen!
– Embryot till albumet växte fram när jag insåg att jag inte behövde skilja på mina poplåtar och instrumentalmusiken. Portan gick sönder och jag gick tillbaka till pianot. Det kunde smyga sig in minnen av barnvisor av Georg Riedel och svensk folkmusik – saker som jag inte medvetet har lyssnat på – men som tydligen påverkat mig en hel del ändå.
Om man ska sammanfatta känslan som genomsyrar Eddas debutalbum är det lekfullhet och äventyrlighet. Det finns en flyhänt fräschör i melodierna som gör att de låter tillgängliga och lättspelade även om de förmodligen skulle upplevas som intrikata ifall en annan musiker skulle ta sig an dem. Skivan presenterar en sömlös blandning av jazz, pop, visa och klassiskt. Vissa texter berättar en historia, andra är mer impressionistiska och låter antyda hennes förtjusning för haiku-dikter. Några av styckena är helt instrumentala, ögonblick där hon känner absolut genremässig frihet.
Den estetiskt multibegåvade Edda har också en uppenbar känsla för det visuella. Resultatet kan bland annat avnjutas via de fina, detaljerade illustrationerna som återfinns i CD-häftet. Ibland söta, ofta spännande och liksom förklarande och fantasieggande på en och samma gång. Precis som musiken.
English version - translated by Jenny Sundberg
Pianist, singer and songwriter Edda Magnason grew up in the countryside in southern Sweden with her mother, siblings and stepfather. Her father comes, as her name suggests, from Iceland, where he works as a vet in a small town 400 miles from Reykjavik. “A dream of mine is that one day the album will be on sale at the local Shell gas station there”, smiles Edda.
She does not come from a particularly musical family. “Mum had piano lessons as a child but wasn’t allowed to “clink around” at home. My upbringing was a reaction to that. I got to play around on the piano as much as I wanted and there was never anyone who asked me to be quiet”.
An early musical memory was the discovery she made at the age of five.
“I noticed that if you played alternate keys at the same time it sounded really beautiful, but if you took the adjacent ones it sounded ugly. She called to her mother and asked if her discovery was correct. “Yes, but I think it sounds pretty cool if you play the keys that are next to each other too,” replied her mother.
“That’s typical of my mother, “says Edda, “she does not differentiate between high and low. I myself was always blissfully unaware of what one “should” think. We were out in the countryside, far from all the cultural in crowds. Edda began to feel her way on the old untuned piano at home; she borrowed from hymns and soon crafted together her own small pieces. “Nobody has ever interfered with the musical part of my life. It soon became a free zone, a light and uncomplicated side of life.”
Edda’s musical training has been patchy. “I have tried. Studied in periods, because there were many who “wanted to teach me” but in some strange way, I have always escaped. When I hadn’t practiced for my piano lesson, I used to placate my piano teacher by playing one of my own songs and then she thought I was clever and forgot that I hadn’t done what I actually should”.
She describes her composing as musical logistics; you feel your way and see which puzzle pieces fit together. “I have a problem with things like recipes, manuals and sheet music. I’m a law unto myself,” she smiles.
How Edda was “discovered” is an amusing story.
After a terrible concert in my opinion in Malmö, where I sat with an electric piano and sang to a poorly imitated bass that I’d recorded on the sequencer, a woman came up and said, “Mail my husband. Say his wife thinks you are awesome. ” Edda mailed him and sent his wife’s regards. The husband, who turned out to be the musician and producer Jonas André, loved her music. Edda was soon contracted to the national Swedish concert label, Caprice, who welcomed her difficult-to-label blend of styles.
It was ten years ago, at the age of fifteen, that she bought a digital Portastudio. That was a turning point: she stopped practicing classical piano and began writing song-based pop music that she made into demos.
“I entered a dream world and began writing lyrics. I sat up at night and read English dictionaries like pure poetry. Since I had never travelled or had any personal roots in the language, I could be who I wanted and it felt like I had the whole world in my hand. She walked around with the Portostudio in a silver tool bag and listened to Björk, Supertramp, Frank Zappa, the Portuguese jazz singer Maria João and Esbjörn Svensson. “I never played in punk bands and stuff. In my teenage years I spent most of the time looking for ambient sounds and making overdubs that I drowned in sound effects. I was completely obsessed with recording on that little machine!”
“The embryo of the album grew when I realized I did not need to distinguish between my pop songs and instrumental music. The Portostudio broke and I went back to the piano. Memories of children’s songs by Georg Riedel and Swedish folk music started to creep back – things that I hadn’t consciously listened to – but which apparently influenced me a lot anyway.”
Were one to summarize the feeling that permeates Edda’s debut album it would be playfulness and adventurousness. There is a deft freshness in the melodies that makes them sound accessible and easily played even if they probably would be perceived as difficult if another musician attempted them. The album presents a seamless blend of jazz, pop, folk, and classical. Some lyrics tell a story, others are more impressionistic and suggest her enthusiasm for haiku poems. Some of the pieces are completely instrumental, moments where she feels absolute freedom from all music genres.
The aesthetically gifted Edda also has an obvious flair for the visual. The result can be enjoyed, for example, in the delicate, detailed illustrations, which are to be found in the CD booklet. Sometimes sweet, often exciting, as well as enlightening and fascinating at the same time. Just like the music.