Not surprisingly, therefore, the subjects of many of her songs speak of an often dark and even depressive Scandinavian consciousness, to which her gentle voice gives a hauntingly bittersweet air. Likewise, her constant sinuous movements and gestures on stage, her broad, disarming smile and look of genuine surprise at applause, and her often eccentric remarks between songs, all add to the same effect – of a grown and hugely talented woman who is somehow also still a child.Īurora grew up (the youngest of three sisters) in Stavanger and Os (near Bergen) on the rugged west coast of Norway, and now lives in what she describes as a “tiny, tiny house on the shore of the fjord”. At the same time, she sings with a noticeable Scandinavian accent, which adds a further endearing aspect to the ears of a native English speaker, especially, I suspect, one of the male persuasion. Her usually synth-heavy instrumental parts again tend to be treated with reverb, to create a spacious, but mysterious and highly atmospheric feel, whilst drums, like the vocals, are sometimes multi-tracked, which can lend even otherwise serene songs a surprisingly driving beat.Īlthough it is very much her second language, she writes in near flawless English (and has done from early childhood). The vocals are often multi-tracked to add muscle and/or harmonies and, with heavy added reverb, songs that are sung virtually acapella can sound as if they have a more intensive accompaniment than they actually do. She can reach almost unbelievably high notes and sometimes manages near supernaturally long sustains, at the end up which she bends the note up still higher, whilst remaining perfectly on key. Her voice presents a similar contrast, being a usually gentle, almost wistful soprano, which at times can sound childlike in tone, whilst still holding a rich expressiveness that can deliver real power that belies her youthful appearance. It has been variously described as Indie, Electropop, and even Folk, and the issue is further heightened by the fact that her live performances frequently present radically altered treatments of a song from the recorded version, often in a markedly different tempo. As a result, her music is hard to categorise. She cites influences which range widely, from Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, to Björk, Grimes and the Chemical Brothers. Apart from a number of cover versions of Oasis, David Bowie and Massive Attack songs, she has two main releases to date: an EP called ‘Running with the Wolves’, from 2015 and the album ‘All my demons greeting me as friends’ from 2016 (which repeats two songs from the EP, including the title track). Yet she writes lyrics that can seem older than time. Still only 21 years old, Aurora – with her, often platted, platinum blonde hair, her blue/grey eyes, and standing just 1.6m tall (5’ 3”) – generally looks a good deal younger.
But she told one journalist that she once “recorded me hugging a tree, which had no sound, but it’s on the album”. She is known for adding ambient noises to her recordings, such as the sound of walking through leaves, or running a stick along a fence. Her obsessive attention to detail in the studio even goes beyond the music itself.
Aurora still confesses to anxiety about performing, although it is well hidden amid the exuberant dancing she sometimes exhibits on stage (from 40 mins: 36 secs), and she is such a perfectionist in the recording studio that she finds it difficult ever to accept that any piece of work is finished and can be released. She had uploaded one of her songs to Norwegian ‘Soundcloud’ as a Christmas present for her parents because she was too nervous to play it in front of them, but that meant that it was there for all to hear – and the rest, as they say, is history. Ironically, she was eventually discovered (in 2012), because of a tendency to stage fright. It only worked if the power button was continuously held down, which meant that she could only play one-handed, but she still fell in love with the sheer power to create that it gave her and began writing her own songs almost at once. She is said to have discovered her love of music as a six-year-old, when she recovered a damaged electronic keyboard abandoned by her older sister in her parents’ loft. For me, one of the most significant musical events of 2016 was the hauntingly beautiful debut album of Norwegian singer/songwriter Aurora Aksnes: usually known simply as ‘Aurora’.
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