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Silje Nergaard – At First Light (2001)

Posted By: janwal46
Silje Nergaard – At First Light (2001)

Silje Nergaard – At First Light (2001)

Silje Nergaard – At First Light (2001)
EmArcy | 2001 | Jazz | FLAC+CUE+MQ-Covers (300Dpi) | NO LOG | 319Mb+3Mb

Silje Nergaard (born June 19, 1966 in Steinkjer, Norway) is a Norwegian pop and jazz vocalist based in Oslo. While her music early in her career (e.g. Si det, si det from 1985) may have had a distinct pop feel, she has since moved on, and virtually all of her later releases consist of jazz-oriented tunes.
Nergaard’s musical journey began early. At age 16, she stepped on stage joining a jam session at Moldejazz, Norway’s international jazz festival, with a band comprising ex-Jaco Pastorious musicians. The country’s jazz journalists applauded the young talent. Since that day, she has steadily developed as a composer and become popular for her unique voice and talent for songwriting.
Since her 1990 inaugural jazz album, Tell Me Where You’re Going, produced by jazz guitar maestro Pat Metheny, Nergaard has become one among very few Norwegian artists to have had commercial releases in major music markets around the globe - including Brazil, Germany, the U.S., and the United Kingdom - and doing so with great success.
Her later albums, Port of Call (2000), At First Light (2001), and Nightwatch (2003), have all proved resounding commercial successes and received rapturous critical praise. With Nightwatch she also made history: no other jazz artist before her had shot straight into the Norwegian sales charts twice to reach #1 within the first week of release. In 2004 she received a Norwegian music award for Musician of the Year.

At First Light is the second-best-selling jazz album of all time in Silje Nergaard's native Norway. With this (her seventh CD), she's already made it big in the rest of Northern Europe, and in the proud words of the Norwegian Embassy - now she wants to conquer Britain.
Silje's voice is as childlike as Lisa Ekdahl's, and as if that wasn't enough she has a baby on backing vocals! Her songwriting, though, is mature. She can write an expansive melody that's well structured but isn't straitjacketed by chorus and verse.
"Be Still My Heart" comes from the Sting school of navel-gazing, with its falling cadences, rich bass, and Till Bronner's haunting, Chris Botti-esque trumpet. This, and the quietly beautiful "There's Always a First Time", both start with simple melody and instrumentation and grow in complexity. Silje's polished-silver vocals mix with sax and strings to form a precious but strong amalgam, while Magnus Lindgren's sax solo unravels the melody and plays with the loose ends.
Although Silje writes her music at a distance from lyricist Mike McGurk, the produce of their relationship sounds organic as if words and music developed together. In fact, Silje sees the nature of Scandinavian jazz in the need to try to let the melody breathe and it's this sense of space that her voice demands if it's to be at its most individual and expressive.
Only two of the twelve tracks on At First Light threaten to invade Silje's personal space and expose the limitations of a Bo Peep voice. In "Now and Then" the claustrophobic instrumentation leaves few openings for her voice to shine through, while the funky "Keep On Backing Losers" tends to overwhelm her with its heavy rhythm.
When given freedom, though, Silje can do justice to a whole range of material. A touch of Stevie Wonder filters through in her light vibrato and in her voice's natural abandonment, particularly on Stevie Wonder's own "Blame It On the Sun". In contrast, her quick-gliding vocals join Tord Gustavsen's bluesy piano in"There's Trouble Brewing", a powerful and swinginguptempo waltz.
Silje's favourite song on At First Light, "Japanese Blue", is airy and free-flowing, with the unsettling sound of a trumpet masquerading as a shakuhachi. No such instrumental illusions are used in the last track, "Lullaby to Erle", though. Recorded in Siljes house, it's folky and fairytale, reminiscent of Hushabye Mountain, and it's whispered right in your ear. Backed by Baby Erle on chimes and gurgles, and by Nils Einar Vijor on acoustic guitar, Silje's voice is all nostalgia and bliss. This one will have you pining for the fjords!

Please note that this is an older but good rip (without log), made with an older version of EAC, and coming from my archives on external hard disc.

Personnel:

The Silje Nergaard Band:

Silje Nergaard - Vocals
Tord Gustavsen - Piano
Harald Johnsen - Acoustic Bass
Jarle Vespestad - Drums

For Additional Personnel See Booklet-02

Tracklist:

01. There's Always a First Time
02. Be Still My Heart
03. Let There Be Love
04. So Sorry for Your Love
05. Now & Then
06. Two Sleepy People
07. Keep on Backing Losers
08. Blame It on the Sun
09. At First Light
10. There's Trouble Brewing
11. Japanese Blue
12. Lullaby to Erle

Pruduced By Georg Wadenius & Silje Nergaard
Basic Tracks & Vocals Recorded At Waterfall Studio, Oslo, Norway
For additional Recording Locations See Booklet-02

Sound Quality: 8/9

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