For me there’s always been something magical about Scandinavia. Such scenery as mountains with their peaks dusted in innocent and untouched snow, the deep green fields which stretch as far as the eye can see and the plunging valley that encapsulate the flowing pure crystal water below. This landscape creates a mystical and majestic feeling that connect that with artists like Ásgeir and Nina Kinert and it’s no wonder there’s such a magical allure! If you were ever in doubt, Sea Change has certainly reconfirmed this.
Sea Change is spacious, chilling and angelic all in one. Her album may be called Breakage, but it will make you feel whole.
Set to release her debut album Breakage on February 23rd, Sea Change is the musical venture for Ellen A.W. Sunde. The Norwegian artist’s sound, is a mixture of both dream pop, and electronic. There is a real sense of complete surrender in this album to the power that music has. It’s as if Sea Change has completely let go of any inhibitions that can hold an artist back from musical exploration. She simply immersed herself in whatever inspiration has musically hit her at the time of the creation of Breakage. The album is stunningly beautiful, fragile and yet grounded.
Sunde struggled for a while to come to this musical surrender point in her career. Whilst being interviewed by, The 405 she discusses her struggles and fears in the early stages of her career and her inability to finish songs. For her it was her own self-censorship that limited her finalising songs. Her meticulous concern with a track in turn created a fear that ‘killed all my creativity’. It wasn’t until later that she realised this was occurring and her talent was being squished by non-other than herself alone. And so she concurred her fear, stopped being afraid and as most say- simply got on with it! At twenty-one she surrendered to herself and completed her first song. Thank god she did as now we have Sea Change!
Whilst the name Sea Change is misleading for some, expecting there to be homage made to Beck, Sunde expresses that the decision to choose this alias was more a reflection on the sea itself. With the sea constantly changing, moving and transforming itself- she felt a connection to this, as herself as an artist is doing exactly that. And therefore, Sea Change was born.
As a means of setting you up for this dream, pop and electronic experience free from inhibitions, is Wooden House. Opening with an almost space like sound the listener is then greeted by Sunde’s vocals. With a smoky, velvet, dream and almost psychedelic features to it, her sounding instantly relaxes the listener. Her vocals in this track have a way or ripping the listeners concerns from them to leave one hearing Wooden House feeling nothing more then the emotions evoked by the music itself. A fantastic introduction song, that completely sets the one up for a full listening experience.
Fearless is a track that cradles her dream-like vocals around a mixture of tempos, electronic elements and a mystical loop that follow through the track to create a basket of musical brilliance. The track is definitely one that doesn’t slow or die off as it finishes but instead punches through more musically- experimental elements to create a song fully reflective of its name- the track is simply fearless.
If as a listener you needed confirmation about how powerful tracks need nothing more the a simplicity undertaking, void of lots of musical elements- then Knives is a track you should not pass. With nothing more then the hypnotic vocals, a looped crash-like beat, electronic undertones and poetic lyrics, Knives just is! Its such a showcase that brilliance can stand alone with just taking each element and portraying it for its own value. By doing this a piece of music is formed that leaves the listener realizing that you have held your breathe for fear of breaking that hypnotic moment.
Opening with an eerie, echo sounding Raan has the greatest electronic prominence for the album. With what can only be descried as a sound of static TV, this particular sound is looped throughout. What makes this really interesting is how this scuffed and static sound is in the background of the track that is filled with popping electronic tones and spellbinding vocals. Raan is a really interesting track and the most musically experimental for Breakage.
The debut album, Breakage will be released February 23rd.
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