Ane Brun

Since Sweden's José González hit with "Heartbeats" late last year, Ane Brun has been the
Scandinavian most likely to follow in his footsteps. Like González, the Norway-born,
Sweden-based Brun ballasts her culturally exotic back story with sparse, Englishlanguage
songs fluent in the well-established idioms of North American and British folk.
But unlike, say, Sondre Lerche, Kings Of Convenience, or even the Cardigans, all of
whom pepper their songs with occasional North Germanic trills and slightly skewed-intranslation
lyrical quirks, there's nothing in the hard DNA of Brun's music to immediately
suggest where she's from. Instead, Brun's surroundings are telegraphed to us obliquely,
through the thick fog of her lonely, crystalline songs.
Re-constructed for North American release, this version of A Temporary Dive contains
all 10 tracks from Brun's 2005 sophomore outing as well as an extra offering from
November's Duets record. Clocking in at just over 42 minutes, it's an easily digestible
collection of acoustic ballads and minor key melodies that flits between folksy prettiness
and something a little darker. With an unaffected delivery and a clear, clean soprano that
occasionally sends up traces of Beth Gibbons or Nina Nastasia, Brun aims for the kind of
subtle, spacious songs that work best at 2 a.m., and more often than not, she delivers.
A tangle of guitars, keys, synth drones, and choral voices, opener "To Let Myself Go"
establishes the album's glacial, unhurried pace. A love song that morphs into a sort of
sleepy hymnal, it makes for an arresting start, but the spell is quickly broken by the
twangy, mid-tempo romp of "Song No. 6". Featuring uncharacteristic oversinging from
Brun and guest vocalist Ron Sexsmith, the vampy duet is the album's only serious
misstep. It feels at odds with the remainder of the record, which hews more closely to the
slower, bleaker side of things. As highlights go, there's also the shimmering "Balloon
Ranger", which winks at PJ Harvey with a pretty turn about halfway through, the stringdrenched
"Laid In Earth", and "Where Friend Rhymes With End", wherein Brun cuts
through her navalgazing with a jab at her own expense: "I can't believe I'm writing a
song/ Where friend rhymes with end".
Despite the fact that most of the songs on A Temporary Dive benefit from a spacious,
hands-off production approach, the best thing here is ironically also the most ornate. With
creeping strings that sometimes veer into dissonance, xylophones and a shuffling rhythm
section, "My Lover Will Go" has a psych-folk undercarriage that's right in line with
Gibbons' very underrated solo album, Out of Season. It's hard to hear it and not wish for
Brun to go deeper in that direction on her next record, but for now, this is a welcome
start.
-Mark Pytlik, May 25, 2006 - Pitchfork

"This Norwegian girl with a guitar has a whiff of the coffeehouse about her, but it's a good coffeehouse. Her depressing songs are monumentally mordant (many are about breakups, one's about death), but she also flashes a sense of humor ("My friend, you left me in the end/ I can't believe I'm writing a song where friend rhymes with end") and really comes out of her shell on Song No. 6, a sweet, stomping duet with fellow melancholic Ron Sexsmith. Most compelling of all is her voice - a mix of Bjork's unpredictability and Joni Mitchell's directness that makes even the dourest material affecting." Time Magazine - 1 of 5 Best Albums of May.By JOSH TYRANGIEL. Sunday, Apr. 30, 2006 - Time Magazin