Better late than never for Gunnva (Gunnva Jóhannisardóttir Kjærgaard), who released this, her fourth single, ‘One More Time’, on 27th June, which was three heat waves ago.
The Danish-Faroese singer-songwriter comes with a sound/genre mix which while perhaps not unique is certainly different, managing to blend folk-rock, Americana, and synth-pop into a credible whole.
The track is to do with themes of loneliness and the human longing for connection. Tell me about it Gunnva, sitting here night after night banging on the keys (but I love it of course).
Her explanation for it is that while she usually felt she could get by on her own, dealing with life’s issues as she came across them, watching TV survival shows convinced her that there’s more to it than just making it through the night.
She interpreted it as a forest walk when the darkness sets in, and you realise you need someone to help you find the path.
“I have lost the path before me; the one behind will lead me”.
I won’t say where that lyric came from but it’s from an epic song and, well, appropriate I think.
There are so many seeming influences in this song that it’s hard to know where to start, from the Oasis-like opening chords (I just had to mention them of course) to Norah Jones (mainly the vocal) to Fleetwood Mac (mainly the arrangement), to Sol Heilo, it flows effortlessly like a river through a well worn valley.
Towards the end there’s a choral arrangement as well, to symbolise a journey from isolation to the sharing of experiences. It would have made for an even more impressive ending had it been released at the end of the pandemic.
And get this – she wrote it in the same time that I took to write this.
And then she could be a doppelganger for Fiona Apple. What more can I say?
She’s 28, based in Aalborg, and ‘One more time’ follows previous single ‘In my heart’ as she continues along her path towards her debut album, expected later this year.
This summer, she will also perform at Denmark’s acclaimed emerging artist festival Uhørt and the Faroe Islands’ Summarfestival.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gunnvamusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gunnvamusic/
