I lurve her music ......
..... "an innate, effortless musicality that seems to come free with Norwegian passports. "
Hanne Hukkelberg
Bush Hall, London
Review in the Guardian.
The ornate moulding and chandeliers of Bush Hill may be at odds with the stripped-down aesthetic of Hanne Hukkelberg's new band, but the attentive, appreciative crowd is just right for the Norwegian singer-songwriter.
In today's crowded musical marketplace, she has three great assets. First, a voice, clear and without ornamentation, that can move from flute-like purity to a hard-rocking wail. Second, an innate, effortless musicality that seems to come free with Norwegian passports. And third, "content" (as they used to say in the early days of the internet): something to say, and a repertoire that says it.
What she doesn't have is an obvious style that binds her to one musical camp. Her earlier albums feature experimental arrangements, with banjos, typewriters and egg slicers, but these are always in the service of her catchy, multilayered songs.
The equally compelling tracks from her current album Blood from a Stone are more rock-oriented, with guitars and basses, but there are few conventional drums: Hukkelberg opts instead for found sounds such as slamming doors and clogs.
Live, drummer Kenneth Kapstad replicates such clattering with a customised kit. However, the backline of bass, drums and the edgy, John McGeoch-like guitar of Ivar Grydeland (from fellow Norwegians Huntsville) gives newer tunes such as Seventeen and the Norwegian-language Bygd Til By a nervous, Siouxsie-like energy.
The intense thrash of In Here/Out There brings other 1980s bands to mind - Ultravox and Simple Minds - but Hukkelberg transcends such associations by singing beautifully (with harmony vocals from guitarist-keyboardist Mai Elise Solberg), whatever the band does.
For the second encore Hukkelberg announces a second number in Norwegian, asking good-humouredly: "Is it OK?" The closing song, the choppy, enchanting Boble, is more than OK - it's another slice of Nordic magic.
