Hanne Hukkelberg - Blood From A Stone

Genre:Folk, Pop, Jazz
Label: Netwerk Records
My space

BLOOD FROM A STONE is the third album for the Norwegian artist best known for her imaginative use of found sounds and eclectic array of instrumentation. While Hukkelberg spent her formative years playing in various metal bands, the singer admits she lingered over other influences for this collection, most notably post punkers like Sonic Youth, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Einstuerzende Neubauten and P.J. Harvey. You can also hear a bit of Siouxsie through the glass darkly.

Although it's immediately apparent that this album rocks more than Hukkelberg's previous releases (Little Things [2005] and Rykestrasse 68 [2007]), the results are still undeniably idiosyncratic. The bulk of her vocals are first takes, and her lyrics are more direct and less introverted than on previous albums. Musically, the songs continue Hukkelberg's penchant for combining traditional and unusual instrumentation to form a soundscape. Though a self-described rock album, BLOOD FROM A STONE manages to include field recordings of flagpoles, train doors, seagulls, clogs, rocks, kitchen utensils, freezers, stoves and a school desk - with no traditional drum kit to be found. All instruments were tuned by ear; digital tuners were banned from the studio.

While was recorded in Hukkelberg's regular studio in Oslo, the songs themselves were written during the seven months she spent living in a tiny coastal village on the Norwegian island of Senja, 300 kilometres north of the Polar Circle. This starkly contrasts with a similar period of time spent ensconced in Berlin while writing her previous album. Hukkelberg explains: "In the north of Norway it is way more quiet. It has been interesting to experience composing in both a busy city and in a quiet village. I noticed it affected me in very different ways. I felt a need for composing more quiet songs in the noisy city, and more noisy music in the quiet village."

This record is co-produced by Hukkelberg and her long-term collaborator Kare Vestrheim. Several of her regular musicians appear on the album, including Henning Sandsdalen, Lena Nymark, Erland Dahlen and Kare Vestrheim, while other contributors are Bent Sæther (of Motorpsycho) Ivar Grydeland (Huntsville), Martin Langlie (Gate, Valkyrien Allstars), Mark Jowett (Nettwerk Cofounder), and the unusual rhythm section Hurra Torpedo (on freezers and stoves). Hukkelberg herself plays bass, guitar, drums, percussion, piano and various bric-a-brac.