(ANE BRUN)
“I FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN ON THIS LITTLE ISLAND ON MY OWN, JUST KIND OF FLOATING THROUGH THE CHAOS...” How important was your decision to go out alone, and not down the major label route? I have been independent since the beginning, and was lucky, as I found a manager from the start, started my label, and it’s really been the best choice, especially when you look at what a chaotic time it’s been these past few years in the music business. I feel like I’ve been on this little island on my own, just kind of floating through the chaos, you know? I’ve built my own fanbase, and throughout my career it’s always just been a case of building everything up myself. And through the chaos, we’ve always found ways to make it work. And your record, Songs, celebrates that... Yeah, Songs is your typical anthology type thing; 32 songs from the last 10 years in my career. We also did something called Rarities, which is also a collection of songs, but it’s a bit different, as it’s a lot of previously unreleased material. So basically, we released two double albums last year, which is crazy!
SWEET SONGS & RARITIES NORWEGIAN-BORN ANE BRUN IS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC. SHE MOVED TO STOCKHOLM IN 2000, AND THREE YEARS LATER, TOOK THE PLUNGE AND STARTED HER OWN LABEL SOMETHING THAT WAS VERY RARE IN SWEDEN AT THE TIME - AND IT WAS THE BEST MOVE SHE COULD EVER HAVE MADE. TEN YEARS AND SEVERAL PLATINUM ALBUMS LATER, SHE’S EVOLVED INTO9AN EPIC INTERNATIONAL PERFORMER, AND IS ABOUT TO BEGIN WORK ON A NEW RECORD, A NEW TOUR, AND A RATHER IDYLLIC NEW STUDIO, RIGHT ON THE OCEAN...
You like to make cover versions your own... You know, covers come to me in different ways: sometimes it’s a request from someone for a project; and sometimes it’s me wanting to play around with a song that’s really in a style far away from my own. I did a song by Arcade Fire, and one by Beyoncé. I just try to make them a little different, and it’s a very creative process for me to take an existing song and try and make it into my own. I just love singing and playing, and sometimes I do that for fun, and it sounds good..! Your first record, the beautiful Spending Time With Morgan, was released in 2003 – how has your music evolved into the now epic feel over the last decade? I think my music has developed quite a lot. I started as a classic singer-songwriter with guitar, cello, and a couple more instruments – you know, that kind of stuff. I still go back to that place now and again, but for the last four years, I’ve been touring with a double drummer, and using a lot of reverbs and big sounds. As you say, it’s a lot more epic, but I still have the singer-songwriter in me; and in the fall, I’m going on my first solo tour in a while. It will be just me on the stage, and I’m going to do that in Europe, which should be a lot of fun. Next year, we will have a new album... And that will be really epic!