Cisser Maehl (Denmark) – Familiens muligheder (title/sample track from the album)

It was in February 2023 the last time that Cisser Mæhl put in an appearance here and several things about her stuck out straight away, the main one being that she is highly experimental in her work. For example, for the sample track that we listened to at the time she’d recorded animals and even inanimate objects to provide an unusual backdrop while vacationing on a Norwegian mountain.

Also, that her vocal style was very personal, as if she was right there in the room with you, whispering in your ear.

Two and a half years on and she has released a new album, ‘Familiens muligheder’ (‘Family Options’), and we chose the title track as the sample.

On ‘Familiens muligheder’, Cisser Mæhl has put music to a series of lyrics by the Danish author Ida Marie Hede, taken from her book ‘Suget Eller vasker du vores fuckfingre med dine tårer’ (literally ‘Sucked, or do you wash our fuck fingers with your tears’) (2020), which was named “one of the best books of the year” by the Danish newspaper Politiken in a 5-star review and nominated for both the Politiken Literature Prize and the Montana Prize.

I understand they’re making a video film of it somewhere off Hollywood Boulevard. (Only joking).

The eight songs on the album share the themes of motherhood, grief and love.

She says of this title track lyric that it talks about the many different ways to be a family, such as nuclear families and rainbow families but also more obscure ones like kransekage families (kransekage is a Danish cake for special occasions so it’s a cake family), vaccination families (??) and sampled families.

So she thinks of it as an attempt to expand the concept of family. That family is more than father, mother and children so the track is a sort of catalogue of the opportunities of the family – hence the title – but not always in a positive sense, because who wants to be the ‘extra-monitored families’ or the ‘parasite families’?

There’s a hell of a lot to unpick there and I wish my Danish was up to the job.

But Cisser Mæhl is one of those people you don’t have to understand word for word for her to make an impact on you, even when it sounds like she’s gargling mouthwash. And let’s face it that’s probably what she had to do after handling the fuck fingers.

There are distinct shades of Laurie Anderson right from the start and the weird instruments she employs includes a theremin by the sound of it.

I don’t know what category this family falls into but it sounds like some of them are playing Blind Man’s Bluff or Musical Chairs while adults chase the kids that refuse point blank to go to bed.

Perhaps it’s the Addams Family.

Let’s just say that Cisser is one for the connoisseur. So be one.

‘Familiens muligheder’ was released on 19^th September on the ‘Lyd+LitteraturPlus’ label.

Find her on:

Website: https://cissermaehl.com/