Starting with Scandinavia

Versatile Norwegian singer Ane Brun has forged her decade- long career on her own terms, she tells KEVIN COURTNEY

Where are you?

I’ve been living in Stockholm since 2001, but I come from a small town in Norway called Molde.

You’re a truly independent artist, releasing everything on your own label. Are you happy with progress so far?

Yes, I am. I started out in 2001 and I never expected to hit big at once. But now I’ve built up a fanbase, and it seems like the long years and hard work and pouring my heart out has started paying off. I think this job is so complex and it has so many sides to it, and some of it can bring you down, but I think as long as you want to have this kind of career, that’s what you do.

You’ve been on tour supporting Peter Gabriel, and duetting with him onstage. Was he a strange fish?

No, he’s a very gentle person, actually, a very nice man. He’s a wonderful artist.

You’ve also been touring with Ani DiFranco. How was that?

When I started to play the guitar, that’s how I learned, by listening to Ani DiFranco. And it was also inspiring in the way she handled her career, and how she was always doing what she thinks is right. She’s an amazing performer and it was amazing to meet her and do the tour. It felt more personal, like I was her pupil.

What motivates you to write your songs?

Well, I’ve had my challenges in my life, both romantically, as many of my songs refer to, but also growing up and seeing all the challenges of being human and having feelings. I guess it’s me trying to deal with what’s happening around me and what’s happening between me and other people. I don’t know, putting it through my own filter. I guess it’s a bit like self-therapy, what do I want to explore in myself? So I go in and write it down.

Your lyrics are poetic, with vivid imagery. When did you discover your craft with words?

I think I’ve been creative since I was very young, but writing for the process of creating something real didn’t happen till I was about 23 maybe. I was in the sports team, so I wasn’t really focused on art then. But when I started writing it felt really natural, something I should have started earlier.

Your voice can be jazzy, poppy, rootsy and even operatic. Does that come naturally?

I haven't gone to any teachers or anything, but I've done workshops and world music singing and a lot of folk singing and jazz. You can open up your head to different sounds, and I've been trying, on my last album, Changing of the Seasons,and the new album, to take new roads, take my voice to other sounds, because it's more interesting to try and explore it. On this new record I've been working with Tobias Froberg who is a very good friend of mine. So it's kind of a co-operation between the two of us. I guess for me it's all about experience and maturity and becoming braver and following what you feel in your gut. I'm inspired by music from all times, from when music was first recorded in the late 19th century, so you try to use what you have of your own, and just combine it with that authenticity somehow.

Are you in touch with your Scandinavian roots?

I guess we all have it in us. The melodies I write are taken from my music library inside of me, and I think that when you grow up, in Sweden or Norway, a part of that library is the folk songs you sang when you were a child. But for me it’s also very much jazz, because I grew up with jazz, from standards to the children’s songs my mother used to sing to me. I was a big fan of Prince and Madonna, so I have that too.

You’re starting a tour this autumn. Which new tracks are you looking forward to playing live?

Oh, you know, I'm not so objective, 'cos I love the album so much I can't pick out just one song. One of the songs features Jose Gonzalez, it's a beautiful song, and then there's that bombastic feeling of Do You Remember, with the African drums. It's a very strong, emotional album. I feel it's my best album, and I think Tobias has really managed to make it sound right, to take the best of my voice and everything.

The album’s title, It All Starts With One– can you elaborate?

It’s kind of a multi-meaning. It all comes from a song on the album that’s just called One. It’s about being engaged in what’s going on in the world, and just kind of realising that if you want to make a change, it starts with one person. Or one step, or one word, or whatever. I finished it exactly the same week as the Egyptian revolution started, so while I was in my studio writing that song, I was really inspired by those revolution images. When we started talking about the title of the album, it felt so natural because I have done everything myself from the beginning, and my whole career just started with me.

It All Starts With One

is out now on Balloon Ranger Recordings. Ane Brun plays Whelans on Friday, November 12