It had been a few good years since I had last caught Ane Brun live, roughly around the time when she released Changing of the Seasons where she performed on her own armed just with her acoustic guitar, an incredibly beautiful and intimate show. Unlike that previous time, the type where the artist performed a few feet/metres in front and where you got to shake their hand/hug them at the end of their set, this was a full band affair. Despite seeing all the notices on Facebook about her latest album “It All Starts With One”, this would be the first time seeing Ane Brun without knowing any of the new songs. What were my fellow drummer friend Gideon Letch and I to expect?
We were welcomed with Ane’s talented cellist singer-songwriter Linnea Olsson who reminded me very much of French Canadian Jorane, using digital delays and sampler pedals to create fully layered backings using a single cello and her voice.
When Ane come on, I certainly realised how much more popular she had become, having appeared on the Sky advertisements and as recent support to a Peter Gabriel tour, this exposure was very clear. This was something Gid, I and our other musician friends were used to spotting, remembering once a time before a band became popular how we would have the entire venue to ourselves (believe it or not this would be for Dream Theater, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Nickel Creek and of course Ane Brun).
There’s also something to be said about Scandinavian musicians from all genres of music and this was no exception. In simple terms, Any Brun and her band were phenomenal! Gid and I smiling away agreed that this had to be up there with one of the best all time gigs we had been to. The musicianship and performances were faultless and the atmosphere created by the lighting production, the small spurts of smoke together with the huge natural drum sounds from the two drummers, made for a blissful and awe-inspiring experience.
As well as the two drummers, her band also comprised of the cellist (who also doubled with some bass duties) and two keyboardists, all of whom were also perfect as backing vocalists. Ane’s music had certainly grown over the years with the arrangements being very mature oozing with signs of musical growth. With the powerful yet never overpowering drums I felt some of the songs were even on the “tribal” and “hypnotic” edge and I found myself humming the songs for days after.
So final verdict, the album recordings as good as they are do not do Ane Brun and her band any justice in recreating the atmosphere so if you get the chance to catch her live, go for it!
(For a more detailed reporter style review of this gig, check out this article in music News written by Rahsian Parris who I managed to randomly meet in the audience only to discover she had intereview Ane earlier).
