Matters are moving along at a pace and a welcome here from NMC to classy Norwegian artist Louien who I last came across about this time last year when she released a previous EP, ‘No Tomorrow’ which was a lighter antidote to the one before that, ‘None of My Words,’ which had dealt with the trauma left behind by her father’s death.
She also teamed up in 2021 with The Northern Belle, together with Siv Jakobsen, to make up an Americana-Norwegian super group.
Her next EP will be ‘Figure Me Out’, later in the year, and while we try to do that, here is the insistent track from it, ‘No’, as, I presume, in the ladies’ prerogative ‘no means no.’
‘No’ is an outright expression of anger at someone overstepping boundaries. On this occasion she decided to co-write it, with Preben Sælid Andersen, in order to challenge the conventions of her song writing.
I have to say that I can’t imagine Louien expressing anger at anyone in song. I’ve certainly never heard it before. And this comes across more in the way of gentle admonition. You could look forward to being told off by her.
I’ve enthused previously over her ability to switch between styles in the same song and in a way that doesn’t at all come across as pretentious, but here she commits herself to as close to pure Americana as you can imagine. If you like Courtney Marie Andrews you’ll love Louien.
The girl from Nesodeen who’s keeping Nashville alive in Norway. The most meaningful alliteration I’ll write this month.
‘No’ is out now and ‘Figure Me Out’ will follow on 16th September. Both on Jansen Recordings.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louienmusic
Bandcamp: https://louien.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louienlouien/
