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Visepop
Published:
2020
Record label:
Universal Music
«You can count on ‘Desert’. Always!»
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ALBUM: Odd Nordstoga (47) is not only Telemark’s (and now Lambertseter’s) great son, he has in recent years earned a position as a national poet – or maybe even nationaltax. When he completed his “coronal roll” from Sentralen in Oslo acoustically and mother’s alone at the end of March, as he also did on the album “Aleine heime” in 2016, he was followed by 68,000 online. Everyone likes him “Ødd”, who even raised more than half a million kroner for the Red Cross.
With that concert, he showed that he does not need anyone but himself to shine. There he also presented the single «Fat ferdamann» for the first time, a beautiful song with an airy semi-acoustic soundscape, strings and a great text about faith and doubt:
‘Well, I believe in the leaves, in the grass and in the flowers
which stretches out towards the great room
and will always turn where the sun stands –
so it is probably so and, the way I go »
Changes style
An instrumental version of the song ends the album. It is quite descriptive of Nordstoga’s peculiar ability to change style when it suits him.
In terms of genre, he has “jumped” back and forth a bit since he started the band Something Odd almost 25 years ago: Traditional folk music, pop and country-oriented albums (the breakthrough “Luring” in 2004 and “Heim te mor” in 2006), folk music and jazz (“Pilegrim” in 2008), duet records with Sissel Kyrkjebø and Ingebjørg Bratland – and in 2018 career best with it double, eclectic solo album «Cleaved». Does he manage to follow it up with the more quiet “Poor ferdamann”, solo album number nine?
Review: Whole wood from Nordstoga
Muted Nordstoga
The album does not reach completely up to “Cleaved” level (six in Dagbladet), but he is close. Not all songs sit immediately. Still: He’s almost provocatively good, this man.
On the cover of the single “Fatig ferdamann” he poses as a troubadour in the “Lars Klevstrand way”, but that does not quite match the content. It is very much a band album, in the borderland between shows, country and pop, with a brilliant bunch of musicians in the back – and produced by Kåre Chr. Vestrheim. It tends to be good!
It is still a more subdued Nordstoga we get this time. At first listening, it feels in excess safe. An example is the simple one «Julinetter», but if you go in depth, the melancholy text appears as Nordstoga’s melancholic «Next summer». With the boss in falsetto!
Review: Odd Nordstoga in (a little too) safe surroundings
Star team
Nordstoga’s vocals are in many ways unassailable and at least safe. There are also not many who can compete with the songwriter Nordstoga. A highlight of the album, also because it has a creative and extra exciting arrangement, is “As long as I have company.” It is about the importance of having someone by your side, and can boast the star team Nordstoga (vocals / guitars / banjo), Geir Sundstøl (dobro), Tor Egil Kreken (“bouncy” bass), Alexander Pettersen (electric guitar), Helge Nordbakken (percussion), Torstein Lofthus (drums), David Wallumrød (organ / synth), Kåre Chr. Vestrheim (choir / synth) and the choir Safari.
Everyone should join
Other highlights are the soft title track (with strings, Øyvind Blomstrøm on pedal steel and a Nordstoga that goes Sigmund Groven in the industry on harmonica) and “When everyone is involved”, a title that is not so different from the Labor slogan «Everyone should join», with a simple but powerful message:
“When everyone is involved
is there reason te ‘vera,
is it okay to be,
may it be wise to be,
is it good to be against »
“The perfect theater” is not necessarily the National Theater. Here is a report on Family Norway in 2020, gathered around «A table on a Saturday night», without entrance fee. And «Everyone comes home the same». It holds for many. Also has the album’s most beautiful chorus!
“Song about love and shipwreck” is a subdued duet with Tuva Syvertsen, who also contributes on hard fiddle, while “My own poesi” have a wonderful freshness. So far, so does the old-fashioned flirt “In, in, in”, which despite being selected as the second single is the only track on the album that does not work optimally. Maybe it’s the programming, the “awkward” style, the simple, repetitive chorus or just too much at once. But “It’s nice to be able to dance when you grow up”, as a pure young Nordstoga says on his stomach. He has been advised by his mother.
Soon Odd Nordstoga will go on a corona-adapted trio tour, with acoustic guitar, accordion and Kreken on bass and Lofthus on drums. Stavanger Concert Hall is the first stop on 31 October. But already tonight, Nordstoga with a full band can be heard and seen on «Lindmo» on NRK 1.
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