Hanne Hukkelberg

Hanne has been in the musical world for at least 10 years and her past exploits include Indie, Metal and Grunge bands as well as extensive immersion in music from Sonic Youth, P J Harvey and the Pixies as well as the Industrial sounds of the eighties and nineties – and she sounds like an amalgam of all of these things without sounding remotely like any of them.

Her voice is ethereal, drifting gently over the rock sounds below but in a missed heartbeat she can turn on the dominatrix inside – no surprise that Sousxie Sue is another influence. The music on this album is complex with simplistic overtones and follows her voice as though she was conducting. As well as the musical stuff she has sampled all sorts – Flagpoles, white goods seabirds, furniture opening and closing and even clogs but the samples don’t intrude – they add to the reality of her music but they aren’t there for the sake of it.

You get the same result from Hanne Hukkelberg that you will from Patti Smith or PJ Harvey, maybe Joan as Policewoman or even Kate Bush – powerful female oriented music that has melody and integrity by the bucketload – but she has her own sound and her own voice and in a world of clones and wannabees that is a rare and cherishable thing.

Listen to this in its entirety before you start to dip in and out – it really is worth it.