One of Norway’s finest stretches the americana boundaries.
Americana is nothing if not a broad brush. In the case of Signe Marie Rustad, it is a genre that stretches as far as her native Norway. “Do You Know Something I Don’t” is the Norwegian artist’s fifth studio album, if studio is the right word for a recording made live at the Oslo Concert Hall. The intimate Lille Sal has an adjacent recording studio, so we have the unusual mix of a one-take studio recording with a live audience in attendance.
In her native Norway, Rustad has garnered just about every accolade going and is renowned for mixing things up and never making the same album twice. It was this desire to escape the straight-jacket cycle of record and release that led Rustad to toy with the idea of replicating the unique feel of playing in front of an audience, that two-way street and instant feedback that fuels the artist’s adrenaline, and translating that buzz into a studio album.
Unusually, the title track appears not once but twice here, two very different songs bookending the album. So, the opening song ‘Do You Know Something I Don’t (Question)’ has, by the album’s end, morphed that ‘Question’ into a ‘Statement’. That opening track is a gorgeous statement of intent, with its long piano intro paving the way for the singer’s silky and emotional vocal. It is as understated and lowkey as any opening track could ever be, but no less arresting for that.
Although only blessed with seven songs on the album, there is, even within the constraints of such a short playing time, a clear musical direction at play. ‘Conformities of Life’ follows that stunning opening track and features more breathy vocals, but here the tempo picks up and the band that Rustad trusts and has kept close to her for a number of years comes to the fore. It is a melodic, mid-tempo number with a distinct drum-led rhythm and background harmonies that hint at the direction of travel. There is a feel, as the album progresses, of a move toward something more commercially appealing with toe-tapping riffs and memorable chorus lines, never better demonstrated than with that closing bookended track. ‘Do You Know Something I Don’t (Statement)’ has a repeatable hook line that draws the studio audience into joining Rustad as the song plays out to a close.
That stretching of the americana brand can sometimes feel, well, a bit of a stretch at times, and there are times on the album where it may veer closer to pop than some may be comfortable with, but Rustad’s is a voice that warrants attention.
