www.myspace.com/susannasonata

muzycy:
Susanna Wallumrød: vocals, piano & guitar
Paal Hausken: drums
Helge Sten: guitar, mellotron
Bonnie ”Prince” Billy: guitar, vocal on 'Jailbreak' and 'Without You'

Q (UK) - " The Decision to record a covers album can suggest a failure of imagination. Not so with Norway´s Susanna Wallumrød. Joined by The Magical Orchestra, she produced astonishing torch versions of Jolene and Love Will Tear Us Apart, and her second solo album weaves similar interpretative magic. Backed by funereal piano, her tremulous vocals strike to the disaffected heart of once-raucous anthems from Thin Lizzy and Prince, and renders ABBA´s Lay All Your Love On Me both desperate and devastating. Elsewhere, more predictable selections from Sandy Denny and Nico still beguile, while two of her own songs prove she´s no slouch in the songwriting department either. "

Time Out (UK) - " Inventive interpretations, exquistively executed have always featured both on record and in her live sets. It´s a rather crass distinction, but her versions can be divided into the likely and unlikely, the former represented by Sandy Denny´s quivering "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" and Nico´s brittle but haunting "Janitor of Lunacy", the latter by Lou Reed´s "Vicious", Tom Petty´s "Don´t Come Around Here No More", "Changes" by Black Sabbath and - most startingly - by Thin Lizzy´s "Jailbreak". This manifests as a ghostly piano lament grazed by Susanna´s lustrous vocal, her chilly, gunmetal-grey beauty suggesting Emmylou Harris in a mile-deep fjord. That Bonnie "Prince" Billy is also onboard underlines the tremulous loveliness of this project. Listen alone - and weep with pleasure."

www.pitchforkmedia.com - " There's a certain amount of hubris inherent in every covers record. Surely many if not most begin quite innocently, like a fan letter to a favorite act. But the implication is still that the singer or band thinks that they can bring something new to someone else's song or performance. Perhaps they feel that they can even make the song better. The fact that this rarely happens apparently deters no one. "Playing covers... is not the same as, say.......
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Susanna Wallumrrød znana z coverbandu Susanna & The Magical Orchestra to mistrzyni osobistego podejścia do interpretacji znanych utworów. Do nagrania swojej autorskiej płyty zaprosiła muzyków doskonale znanych: Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent), Pål Hausken (In The Country) i gościnnie w dwóch piosenkach Bonnie ”Prince” Billy.
Idealnie czysty głos Susanny, budzący momentalne skojarzenia z zamarzniętymi fiordami i zasypanymi śniegiem skandynawskimi krajobrazami, minimalistyczna oprawa dźwiękowa, energia, która się za tym kryje sprawia, że jej interpretacje ewoluują w zupełnie osobistym kierunku, gdzie znane hity stają się nowymi piosenkami.
Covery Thin Lizzy czy Sandy Denny, Black Sabbath czy Nico, Lou Reeda czy Abby nabierają zupełnie nowego uroku, czasami zachwycając ulotną nostalgią, innym razem wciągając w lekko depresyjny świat wyobraźni wokalistki.
Płytę 'Flower Of Evil z powodzeniem można postawić obok najlepszych nagrań sióstr Cassady [CocoRosie], Joanny Newsom, Cat Power czy Sufjana Stevensa.
autor: Paweł Matuła

prasa światowa o drugiej płycie Speck Mountain:

Q (UK) - " The Decision to record a covers album can suggest a failure of imagination. Not so with Norway´s Susanna Wallumrød. Joined by The Magical Orchestra, she produced astonishing torch versions of Jolene and Love Will Tear Us Apart, and her second solo album weaves similar interpretative magic. Backed by funereal piano, her tremulous vocals strike to the disaffected heart of once-raucous anthems from Thin Lizzy and Prince, and renders ABBA´s Lay All Your Love On Me both desperate and devastating. Elsewhere, more predictable selections from Sandy Denny and Nico still beguile, while two of her own songs prove she´s no slouch in the songwriting department either. "

Time Out (UK) - " Inventive interpretations, exquistively executed have always featured both on record and in her live sets. It´s a ra.......
more