Elise Sløgedal. The name made me think of a downhill skier for some reason. I’ll have to ration my viewing of the Winter Olympics.
Angry and thoughtful is what her new song, her third and last single, ‘Little Things’ – prior to the release of her debut album on 6th March – is all about. Yin and Yang. Chips and Rice. Balanced dualism if you want to be arty farty about it.
The UK’s Mae Muller tried to reconcile two contrasting emotions like that in one song for Eurovision a couple of years ago and finished second last with nul points, I think.
There’s no danger of that happening to Elise if she were to represent Norway with this banger.
She says it’s “full of energy” and that’s a huge understatement.
I have no idea how to classify her. There are elements of rock, prog (think King Crimson), free form jazz, genre-less experimentalism, and even Bette Midler in this mélange that sounds like it’s the product of three separate recording studios running concurrently, where someone left all the doors open.
Then I think of the (often referred to in these pages) Jazz Club, the 1990s British TV comedy sketch show that lampooned the jazz scene with arcane, surreal performers but all of whom could “play a tune”, jazz style. The little sax solo here especially would fit it perfectly.
It’s apparently in 4/4 but it sounds like 27/19 at times to me and Jazz Club’s presenter, Louis Balfour, would relish informing us that “the choruses make space for reflection…maybe it’s smart to spend less time getting annoyed?…and the riff starts on the second sixteenth note. The base of the song is the returning riff, until it reaches a conclusion in the bridge.”
“Nice!”
“Gr-r-eat!”
Sometimes it takes just a few bars to realise you’ve found a genuine new talent (and several trips to the bar when you know you haven’t).
She’s the real deal. Can’t wait for that album.
(Continues after the Spotify link).
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551909403968
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eliseslogedal/
