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“A Review of ELIKSIR’s Stunning Debut Album EARTHLY THINGS” By Gerry Casey, Studio7 Ireland.

Sep 20, '07 6:26 PM
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NEW ALBUM FROM SIDDHARTHA RECORDS

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ELIKSIR

Earthly Things

A Review

“I save a raindrop from sinking in the sand”-the first line of Eliksir’s (Elin Synnøve Bråthen) opening track, “Raindrop Song” from her stunning debut album, “Earthly Things”. A track in which the Norwegian singer/songwriter introduces us to the element of water that ebbs and flows so effortlessly throughout this wonderful collection of songs, mixing as it does elements of Pop, Jazz, Rock, Celtic and World music; a mixture that she herself describes as “a potion of contemporary nostalgia”. And a most potent potion, it most certainly is.

The title track, “Earthly Things”, is a hauntingly beautiful lament to the inevitable changing of The Seasons from Summer to Fall, or rather, the passing of time and the impermanence of everything, “How much time do we get?” “Soon enough we will fade”. Eliksir begins to “stretch her legs” vocally on this song-as the listener delves further into the album, we discover that she has only been limbering up….

“At The Station”, is a much more Pop orientated track, brought alive with some brilliant percussion that “brings the train” into the room with you and includes some great Claptonesque lead guitar courtesy of Haldør Royne. “Where is my darling fever?”, “Where is my heartbeat’s keeper?”, Eliksir wonders as Kristin Skaare’s accordion delicately punctuates this wonderfully FM Radio friendly song, with a highly original bass line courtesy of Glenn Phillip Nilsen, helping, along with the aforementioned percussion, to keep everything “At the Station”, running right on schedule….

“Harbour Song”, for me at any rate, is pretty much the Tour de Force of “Earthly Things”. The highly acclaimed and world-renowned Øystein Sevåg’s spacious production allowing great scope for Eliksir’s almost unbelievable-almost supernatural-vocal delivery, as the tempo (and water again) ebbs and flows in this remarkable, Middle Eastern sounding at times, brilliant, brilliant work of art. “Silent my love, do not reveal”- the hair stood up on the back of my neck the first time I heard Eliksir sing this most “Siren” like and incredibly beautiful line, (not an everyday occurrence and most certainly like nothing else I have heard in many a year, it must be said). At the risk of contradicting myself so immediately, I could never have guessed it would happen again a few minutes later when I heard the next track, “Feel It”, for the very first time….

“Feel It”, is my overall favourite song of this altogether groundbreaking album. “Making all the mistakes that you won’t regret”, “(Remember) Sad things only repeat themselves if you let”. The line “(So) care for every breathing loveliness” is so beautifully and sensually sung that words simply cannot describe the experience that awaits the fortunate listener-those lingering “S” sounds are just so…..beautiful. As I say, this song simply must be heard to be appreciated, not just read about, and all this in another wonderfully FM Radio friendly format. Profound and intuitive words from a woman who says her dreams influence much of her lyrics. There is certainly a great creative intelligence at work here throughout this album-wherever it hails from-and the listening experience simply gets richer and more absorbing with every play.

“Into The Gloom”, brings us back once again into the water, “River take me far away soon”, a deeply melancholic track that introduces elements of Sean Nos, Native American Indian and Asian traditional music in the way Eliksir sings her “Hey-ye….yo-ho…” chant like refrain. As the title suggests, it is the darkest track on the album with great guitar from Knut Andreas Antonsen and foreboding cello from Aage Kvalbein.

“Fairytale”, (see link below for video) is aurally much lighter, though still quite sad as it tells the tale of a failed love affair, “Instead I see him off again, and now I fear this is the end”. Eliksir’s voice like honey now on this unusual track, floating and lilting along as it does once more so effortlessly as “Tide is in and water fills my soul”.

“War For Your Love”, alternates between jazz and straight ahead Floydian style Progressive Rock, the melody that Ms Bråthen manages to deliver in the verses is quite something to hear, an incredibly difficult, if not downright impossible feat for your average vocalist, but as you will now surely appreciate having journeyed this far into “Earthly Things”, Eliksir is far, far from being just your “average” vocalist….

“You Must Fly”, sees her once more borrowing from those “other” earthly things, The Seasons, to describe an absent love, though it is tinged with hope, “You’ll return, and birds return, Spring returning too”. Another beautiful arrangement with just piano and cello, Eliksir’s voice is so heartbreakingly fragile on this song, and one I’m sure we can all relate to, in some way at least, and feel exactly where she is coming from on this piece in particular.

On the closing track, “Play Among The Shadows”, Eliksir again uses dream imagery or rather, she has a one sided dialogue with the source of said imagery and she finally “rocks out” as her superb voice soars above “the shadows” to a soundscape of utter abandonment and desolation-sublime.

The music and instrumentation throughout “Earthly Things” is quite sparse at times and very much to the background, the point being, I guess, is that Eliksir’s voice quite simply IS the music on this spectacular album. An amazingly talented Composer / Singer / Songwriter, herself hauntingly beautiful with such an incredible voice, she can most certainly take her place among the top contemporary female artists of today-or any day for that matter.

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“Stone In My Shoe”

Recorded live in Oslo, 2007 at the release concert for “Earthly Things”.

Eliksir manages to combine both Jazz influenced blues in the style of The Allman Brothers Band with the more primordial guitar and voice delivery so associated with “Earthy” blues artists such as the late, great John Lee Hooker, with this highly original song in an often hackneyed genre. In just the title alone of this track, which shall feature on her next album, Eliksir also manages to somehow capture the very essence and feelings that compelled, and still compel, every artist that ever picked up a guitar to write such a personal blues song-“How do I love a stone in my shoe?” How, indeed. She just says it all in those few words really, and displays yet another facet to this truly gifted artist’s creativity and talents – and she can belt it out with the best of them too….