SIDSEL ENDRESEN — So I Write (review)

SIDSEL ENDRESEN — So I Write album cover Album · 1990 · Post-Fusion Contemporary Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Matti P
To cite All Music Guide, Norwegian SIDSEL ENDRESEN (b. 1952) "is one of those 1990's artists who demonstrate the increasing difficulty in applying traditional 20th-century categorizations to many contemporary music albums". She started her career in music in a short-lived soul group Chiupahua in 1979, after which she sang in Jon Eberson Group from 1980 to 1987. Her solo debut So I Write is the only album I'm familiar with; I found it around 1994 from library, at the time I got interested in jazz and especially the ECM label. The trademark spatial production of Manfred Eicher is indeed unmistakable here. Actually this is one of the most spatial and sonically minimalistic VOCAL albums I've ever listened to, of any genre.

Endresen wrote the lyrics, and the composition credits are shared by various people such as Jon Balke who's not playing on the album. The accompanying musicians are pianist Django Bates -- I remember him from Bill Bruford's Earthworks --, Nils Petter Molvaer on trumpet, flugelhorn and percussion, and percussionist Jon Christensen. Those who know Molvaer may have some idea of the ambient-ish and slightly experimental music.

I was mildly charmed by the album back then, both because of the minimal soundscape and Endresen's personal voice. The All Music Guide refers her voice to Sandy Denny which I don't quite agree with. Endresen's expression has fragility and intimacy but a certain grittiness and introversion, too. It's not a "beautiful" voice, it's like a shy and shabby film character you somehow get deeply curious about.

Despite the strange charm, some tracks I find rather boring, to be honest. For example 'Truth' (7:25) that features just hand percussion and very sparse vocals, and without much of melodies, fails to interest me at all. However the majority of the eight tracks are fascinating with the spatial and introvertly thoughtful/meditative combination of the spoken-oriented voice and sparsely played instruments.

The piece that I'm most impressed by is 'This Is the Movie', not least because of the narrative lyrics about a haphazard meeting of a man and a woman. 'Dreamland' and 'Horses in Rain' are the next best ones, also they have a rare, poetic atmosphere -- and a melodic level, although intendedly a very thin one. Sadly YouTube has very little samples from Sidsel Endresen.
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