Tidningen Kulturen, Guido Zeccola

 

Sophie Dunér, The City of My Dreams

 

 

Between Kronos and Krause.

Sophie Dunér is very good and agressive enough to sing jazz, alternatvie ( progressive ? ) music.

But she has not yet reached a level of, what shall we say, a la Dagmar Krause ( Henry Cow, Art Bears, News from Babel ), but she´s got talent to get better and better! The music that she and the accompanying string quartet plays is not 100% contemporary, in spite of this, her CD is a delicious entertainingly moment of good music.

The City of My Dreams is a sort of mosaic of melodies that, in a professional and expressive way, almost sounds folk- musical.

Sophie Dunér comes from the surroundings of Gothenburg but she has travelled and studied in the USA and  Spain. The string quartet she hires is not the Kronos Quartet ( it does not help to electrify the strings! ) but their sound is convincing especially  when they play Kurt Weill inspired music.

As stated, the music is beautiful with its  happy or painful harmonies. I can´t say that the record teaches me anything that on a musical level I did not already know, but whats different and new in my ears  is the relationship between voice and instrument, an interaction that gives good results.

Sophie Dunér is a singer and a composer within jazz, worldmusic and modern classical music. She sings with a  naturalness and simplicity that  surprises.

Her vocal equilibrities  and her capability to switch between different styles makes her one of the most interesting singers in our country.

She can relate in words and tones  a musical shape that many times becomes lyrical.

The voice rattles , falls to later catch itself in the higher register. It throws itself into black holes  in between stones and rocks and spreads itself in thin ribbons of waves.

”The music in its wide signification cannot be an instrument to present the eternally subjective like a seducing objectivity ” ( Göran Sonnevi )

 It is fascinating to follow the birth, developement and transformation of the different songs  to one or more new songs to later see the acoustic material being used in a completely subjective and original way.

An excellent singer for an excellent record that I recommend.