STINA NORDENSTAM and more
plegm master
JoAnn Whetsell wrote:
> I've never heard of this singer or album, but I loved the name. Do tell more.
>
> >STINA NORDENSTAM - DYNAMITE
hey JOANN
STINA NORDENSTAM is great. she probably falls into the same sort
of cerebral intellectual musicianship artist category that people like JANE
SIBERRY, KATE BUSH, or MARY MARGARET O'HARA falls into. but i wouldn't go so far
as to compare her to them musically. she is
certainly has carved out her own nitch. she is quite amazing as a
musician, a musical prodigy (much like KATE BUSH) who has written
literally hundreds of songs before putting out an album. unlike KATE
BUSH though, these songs aren't available via bootleg. :(
anyway she has four full length albums, the latest of which is completely
covers (well i think there may be one original) that have been absolutely
reworked, to the point, where you can barely tell what the original was.
entitled PEOPLE ARE STRANGE, it pretty much was an exercise or
experiment on taking songs that other people had written and stretching
them to their breaking point, stripping them to the innate core, and then
rebuilding them. unfortunately, i have yet to get this album, so i don't
know how successful she is, but i am pretty curious about it.
her album previous to that was DYNAMITE, was a marked departure
from her earlier works, very creepy and claustrophobic. i wouldn't use the word
GOTH as a description, but certainly certain songs approach and
evoked that sensability. one of the strongest songs on the album is
THIS TIME, JOHN which has the lyrics:
"one of us will hit you
the others hold you down
we'll mark you, mud and soil you
we'll throw you in to drown..."
thematically she treads the same sort of path that LISA GERMANO does
but not quite as emotionally raw or nerve wrecking as LISA. her songs instead
invoke complex moods and emotions, akin to a multi layered
painting or watercolor, in which the longer you look at the piece, the more
you can read into them. certain songs are quite composed, and the
instrumental parts of the songs could easily fit into a musical score for
a movie. albeit a dark movie about black clad europeans who wander
aimless about as their meaningless life unravels due to some strange
coincidences of misfortunes. you know the kind of movie that would
be hugely successful in europe, but would only show for a week at the
local art house movie theater. :)
her second album, SHE CLOSES HER EYES, was a bit of a transitional
album from her first album and DYNAMITE. it has some of the same
themes as DYNAMITE, but is much more jazz and folk flavored (STINA
originally was trained as a jazz musician) and not nearly as dark in mood.
her first album, and the only one that was released here in the US is
MEMORIES OF COLORS and it is the most digestable, and
the most beautiful. i would certainly recommend it, especially for the
song SOON AFTER CHRISTMAS which is quite achingly gorgeous.
it may be hard to find (i am not sure if it is out of print or not here in the
US) but look under NORDESTAM as well as STINA (as original
pressings of the CD had her name as just STINA). probably the best
one to start out with.
STINA got a little exposure here in the US, because her song LITTLE
STAR was featured in the movie WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE's ROMEO AND JULIET (the
soundtrack that basically also launched
another scandinavian group's career here in the US as well,
THE CARDIGAN - LOVEFOOL). if you own that CD, you already
have a little taste of her voice (which is pretty unique) and musical style
(which is also quite unique)
for more info check out:
http://www.intimate.org/stina/index.html
but be warned that it is pretty heavy java/shockwave. you gotta have a
browser that is capable. but it is quite nice.
and by the way, she was born in STOCKHOLM. which explains her
great name.
and i am sure that there are others on ECTO that probably could describe
STINA more accurately than me. CHARLEY DARBO was the one who
introduced me to her. and i know there are a few others as well on the
list who enjoy her.
> SUZANNE VEGA.
>
> She wasn't on there at all? Wow-- talk about a major oversight.
hmmm. i think you were talking about the 100 greatest women in rock score, from
VH1. and yes it was a MAJOR oversight. SUZANNE VEGA
pretty took the mantle in the 80's of bridging rock, alternative, and folk
in one fell swoop. granted artists were doing much earlier on (hello JONI
MITCHELL?). but still she paved the way for later artists like 10,000
MANIACS, EDIE BRICKELL and LISA LOEB to find commercial
success. i was quite surprised that she was overlooked, not to mention
the fact that her latest best of has STILL not been released here in the US.
grrrr....
irvin