After three consecutive chart-topping albums of Nordic synth pop grandeur,
Susanne Sundfor scaled back down to her core elements on 2017's
Music for People in Trouble. The Norwegian's intimate piano and voice meditations came as a reaction not only to the pressures of her own success, but to the increasingly anxious social climate that enveloped her. In the interim between that release and her seventh album,
Blomi,
Sundfor gave birth to a daughter, and her personal axis shifted once again.
Blomi is a gorgeous album, one with a multitude of interesting layers and complex themes that give it the feel of a spiritual quest. The celestial "Ashera's Song" sings like a prayer, wishing "love and light to all beings" as shimmering electronic tones dance around
Sundfor's delicate piano clusters. The mood shifts to jazzy elegance on the title track, which concerns itself with renewal and rebirth; "Blomi" is an Old Norse term meaning "to be in bloom." There is strong adherence to history and mythology throughout the record, and
Sundfor's frequent use of this ancient Scandinavian language is another of
Blomi's wonderful quirks. An entire track, the snaky and percussive "á¹¢annu Yarru Li," is based around an erotic Minoan-Creten text translated to Old Norse by her linguist grandfather, Kjell Aartun, featured on the album's cover alongside the artist as a young girl. The surprises continue with "Leikara Ijoâ??Ìâ??dj," an uplifting, gospel-inspired rave-up that incorporates nature sounds, a multi-tracked
Sundfor choir, and a soothing Hardanger fiddle coda. The sweeping "Alyosha" serves as a poignant centerpiece, comparing her husband's innate optimism to that of Dostoevsky's central character in The Brothers Karamazov. Bookending the album are a pair of whimsical sound collages featuring dialog from a spiritual healer friend of
Sundfor's, further emphasizing the record's cinematic structure. Despite its arcane references and philosophical nature,
Blomi remains approachable and is often quite moving. That
Sundfor continues to make such consistently challenging music and be justly rewarded for it is its own small miracle, and with
Blomi she reaches yet another career high. ~ Timothy Monger
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