ANE BRUN: WORDS
Review by Øystein Hauge
THE LITTLE HUMMING BOOK
If we go 30 years back in time, many of us will remember the discussion sparked by the literature professor Georg Johannesen when he criticized the collected lyrics of singer-songwriter Åge Aleksandersen. But using the same criteria of quality to judge song lyrics as we do published poetry is in my opinion as questionable as removing Dylan´s voice when reviewing his music.
WORDS is Ane Brun´s complete collection of lyrics so far. And is the first book I´ve heard of that lets you choose between four different front covers. But let us leave the cover aside. I am more interested in if the artist manages to bring some of the magic she creates with her personal voice and guitar playing into the printed form.
As we already know, there´s a lot of love here. But you’ll have to look elsewhere if you´re after classic love stories as you hear in most country music. Ane Brun´s lyrics introduce us to a different kind of love, if we can put it that way. A love that in almost a Kate Bush-kind of way, is camouflaged by the imagery and hidden between the lines. And in that way it has a stronger emotional impact.
You smiled at me through a dirty windshield/
You just got back from where the cyclone hit
As I read through the pages I get more and more convinced that this is an artist who puts a great deal of work in her lyrics. And that´s also how we prefer to think about a true singer-songwriter. First and foremost a musician, but also a poet. We expect a strong and personal performance, but we also demand authenticity and presence in the words.
Sure, it’s soft and vulnerable. Sweet and fragile, even. But nevertheless, these are lyrics that grab you and shake you. Even on their own — without the music — her words move from one song to the next, following someone on their way to new cities, someone on the move, someone who has to get away. The combination of her soft musical expression and vulnerable lyrics has somehow become this artist’s trademark.
If you grew up with vinyl and know the feeling of opening those amazing booklets with lyrics by Dylan, The Doors, or Deep Purple, then you’ll know what WORDS is about. It’s about giving the listener a chance to once again read — and hum along — with the music in this new world of digital streaming, just like we used to do with the Beatles’ Rubber Soul.
Now we can hum along with Ane Brun´s ‘Rubber and Soul’.