REVIEWS OF DOUBLE SILENCE
“It reminds me of waves…"
by Amy Lotsberg, Collected Sounds
(...) "I think it’s safe to say that if you like pretty piano dreamy pop with gorgeous vocals, you can’t miss with this one.”
“One of the indispensable discoveries of 2009… Dreamlike, magnificent, magic, fragile and subtle”
by Sabine De Greef, With Music In My Mind
(Translated from French)
According to Wikipedia, it is the restrictive view that Scandinavia is associated with Norway and Sweden, but in a broader perspective, Denmark is also included because of the historical and cultural community. Yesterday we were in charming company with Rebekka Karijord from Norway, thus today our journey goes to Denmark into the dreamy world of Karoline Hausted.
A young lady who has her musical inheritance from her parents and has played the piano since the age of 6. Having an interest in jazz music through her schooling, Karoline realized that she also wanted to write her own songs and interpret them as well.
The first chance she got was in the group Salley Gardens with the unique debut album "Down to the River" (2003) that, however, did not get the big attention. Rather than a failure Karoline saw it as a sign to begin her solo musical career. When her first album “Double Silence” was released in late April 2009, it appears to be an essential discovery for 2009.
The singer, mainly accompanied by piano and helped by a handful of musicians has been able to create a more than 50 minutes of an intimate universe saturated by atmospheric light/darkness, that you discover little by little by listening carefully to the album.
It is not necessarily an album which is accessible all at once, one would think, but do not imagine that Karoline is just another trained pianist who uses her pretty young voice to terrify the FM stations. Far from it. Her music cannot be summarized as piano/voice; it is much more than that. The musical world she has created is dreamlike, wonderful, magical, delicate and subtle. Each of the 11 tracks is a small wonder that I do not get tired of after a lot of listening. On the contrary. I am more and more enchanted by these songs, the one more beautiful than the other.
What is especially enjoyable about Karoline's music is that she is not afraid to let the instruments speak and the music to emerge. The result is always sublime, and with great maturity. For the impatient, I recommend reluctantly (for the album is a beautiful unit) the airy and sensual "Seabirds" which opens the album, the sensational and sober "I am a river" which gives excellent reminiscences of Tori Amos' last works, " He took off in a hurry" which opens the doors to the oriental world, the magical and crystalline" Cat sprang up the garden” the sombre almost gothic "Trees that lean" and the delicate and magnificent acid-folk song "Like flowers".
An atmospheric debut with luxurious arrangements. A must for 2009. Astonishing beauty.
“…Harmonic fullness and startling beauty…”
by Jean Pierre Moya, Rockomondo
(Translated from French)
(…) We know them: the too rare Stina Nordenstamm, the aerial Emiliani Torrini, the affectionate Camilla Munck, the sensible Maria Solheim, the scathing Frida Hyvönen, the… (add the name that I always forget).
And then there is Karoline Hausted. She is something else. For starters, she found me, not the other way around; I'm still confused. Because of the "friend requests" those on MySpace, I receive every day. Or rather, they remain rare; it's just fine like that. The scarcity fuels the desire, they say, and with Karoline Hausted, it was served.
In between the first writings that have been posted on these pages and the release of this album almost two years went by. Two years with three songs exactly - those of her MySpace page - that went on loop every time I turned on my computer; I could not ever get bored.
The album arrived by surprise, as I didn’t await it, like an unexpected gift. A dazzling confirmation; evident that I was not mistaken. However, there is nothing fundamentally new or original in the music of Karoline Hausted. A girl who sings sad songs, piano, some strings: who has not already heard it a hundred times before?
Yes, but ... not like that ... not at this level of excellence.
"Trees That Lean" which had landed on MySpace, for example, that it is only a first step, a starting point to go higher. Here on the peaks, we find the romantic melancholy of the opening piece "Seabirds", the quiet beauty of
"I Am a River" with it’s extraordinary piano bridge (a tribute to Under Byen?), the crystalline chords of the Chinese zither on "Cat sprang up the garden," the harmonic fullness and startling beauty of the song bearing the title of the album. And throughout this grace, the elegancy and delicacy that both seek to be achieved and which seem natural here, comes without effort, a voice so simple, so devoid of effects and yet perfect.
Released on her own label Blush Music, "Double Silence" is not an album very easy to find. However, it is nothing problematic for any owner of a computer (essentially you who read this). Understand that the acquisition is more than recommended. This, while waiting for the talent of Karoline Hausted to burst into the open. This cannot happen too soon. It is inevitable.
“A Piano Player From The Age of 6, Her Playing is Under Played in The Fashion of Ryuichi Sakamoto (...) Along With These Treasures Comes A Voice That Can Melt The Darkest of Hearts…”
by Nicholas Larsen, Music From Another Surface
The Release and Subsequent Auditory Dismissal of Under and Above-Ground Albums over The Years Makes Us Wonder, What The Hell were the People Around at The Time Thinking? How Could They Let Artists that create what is Later To Be revealed to The Masses as Significant Pieces of Artwerk, Go Un-noticed or Even Worse, To Be Heard and Said To Be Unworthy of Praise, By The So-Called Music Press? Enter 2009 and Danish Songstress Karoline Hausted's Debut "Double Silence". A Piano Player From The Age of 6, Her Playing is Under Played in The Fashion of Ryuichi Sakamoto's "BTTB". Mixing Elements of Rock, Folk, and Unheard Worlds in Which A Chinese Gu Zheng is Used on The Song: "Cat Sprang Up The Garden". Along With These Treasures Comes A Voice That Can Melt The Darkest of Hearts. Mastered in London by Jon Astley (Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Tears for Fears, Tori Amos) The CD or Download is Worth Your Money and Time, If You Have Zero Expectations and Are Interested in The Sound Waves of Someone With Only The Desire To Share Her Beautiful Spirit.
Let Us All Allow Her Blossom As We Have Allowed Others Before.
“Haunted…”
by Ariane Seelaff, White Tapes
(Translated from German)
Whereas the silly season offers a lot of tour and album announcements for those who stay ready for the usual hot releases and autumn concerts, it also offers the opportunity to finally dedicate oneself to the releases that have gathered a bit dusty in the promo stack. Since there are a lot of treasures to be discovered, we do them a favour and add one or two chapters to our series "Unheard Music" over the next few days. After the first outing of the series took us to Australia, the path today takes us via Denmark to Berlin, to Karoline Hausted.
She is a trained pianist, born in Denmark and has currently chosen Berlin as her home. The first feature of Hausted, for which she is not even responsible, is the basic Freudian misreading of the name because at first I read "Haunted," which translates roughly to what "pursuing" or "spooked" means. A word that would fit so perfectly with her music that the misreading again and again occurs. With the simple composition of piano and her soft voice, a ghostly atmosphere is created with a lot of space for the tunes.
Breezy melodies that float slowly across the room, never pushy, and leaving the listener to his imagination, sometimes so much so that just the moments of silence and the sound that was not played particularly stimulates the imagination. Occasionally the gentle melodies get accompanied by a plucked zither or enriched by a pedal steel, but are mostly limited to piano and singing and falls therefore momentarily into a certain lethargy. That is not always varied and far from new, but ultimately convincing with a consistent style and the serenity of the compositions that by the way have been mastered together with Jon Astley (The Who, Eric Clapton, Tori Amos).
Tidligere Salley Gardens-sangerinde er stadig lavmælt, men fortjener ørenlyd
Af Ole Rosenstand Svidt, Gaffa
Tilbage i 2003 udgav sangerinden og sangskriveren Karoline Hausted det fine album Down To The River sammen med gruppen Salley Gardens, der desværre hurtigt gik i opløsning. Nu er hun omsider tilbage med sit første soloalbum, der viderefører den lavmælte, men intense stemning fra Salley Gardens. Sangene er bygget op omkring Hausteds smukke og undskyldsrene, let tilbageholdte stemme, der giver visse associationer til eksempelvis Edie Brickell, og hendes formfuldendte, både harmoniske og drømmende og sine steder let spændingsfyldte klaverspil, som sender tankerne i retning af navne som Tori Amos og Under Byen. De velskrevne tekster kredser om længsler og drømme, ofte i form af små fortættede historiefortællinger som eksempelvis den meget fine Tap Tap Tap. Produktionen er elegant, med diskrete strygere, slide-guitar, klokkespil og sågar en kinesisk ghu zheng-harpe, der kaster en særlig smuk, østlig stemning over Cat Sprang Up The Garden. Double Silence råber ikke højt, men fortjener at blive hørt.
(English translation)
Former Salley Gardens singer is still subdued, but deserves to be heard
Back in 2003 the singer and songwriter Karoline Hausted released the fine album Down To The River along with the group Salley Gardens, which unfortunately quickly broke up. Now she is finally back with her first solo album, which continues the low-key but intense atmosphere of the Salley Gardens. The songs are built around Hausted’s beautiful and defensible clean, slightly reserved voice, which allows some associations with for example Edie Brickell and her elegant, both smooth and dreamy, at some locations slightly tensioned piano playing, which leads towards names like Tori Amos and Under Byen. The well-written lyrics orbit the longings and dreams, often in the form of little condensed story narrations, such as the very fine Tap Tap Tap. The production is elegant, with subtle strings, slide guitar, glockenspiel and even a Chinese ghu zheng-harp, which creates a particularly beautiful eastern mood to Cat Sprang Up The Garden. Double Silence is not shouting out loud, but deserves to be heard.
REVIEW OF SALLEY GARDENS: DOWN TO THE RIVER 2003
Danmark har med Karoline Hausted helt åbenlyst fået sig et vidunderbarn indenfor singer/songwriter traditionen
Af Ivan Rod, Gaffa
Salley Gardens er en ny og meget interessant dansk gruppe indenfor genren folk-pop. Og det er i særklasse sangerinden, Karoline Hausted, der imponerer. Ikke blot udviser hun på Down to the River lovende kvaliteter som vokalist, hun udviser også et virkeligt talent som sangskriver. Danmark har med hende helt åbenlyst fået sig et vidunderbarn indenfor singer/songwriter traditionen. Elleve af de tolv numre har Karoline Hausted selv skrevet sammen med guitaristen Peter Steenild. Det tolvte er Dolly Partons Jolene. Meget sigende for albummet som sådan er fortolkningen af Jolene også det svageste nummer. De elleve hjemmegjorte numre er mere poetiske, meget mere melodiske og i det hele taget meget mere stemningsmættede og dybfølte. Albummet som helhed har det, der skal til for at åbne et marked, større end det hjemlige. Og det kan man da også håbe, at gruppen får adgang til. Gruppens største svaghed er dog, som for stadigt flere danske grupper, at den udkommer på eget mærke, og derfor har et begrænset apparat bag sig til markedsføring, hvorfor Salley Gardens risikerer ikke at få det fortjente gennembrud.
(English translation)
With Karoline Hausted Denmark has quite obviously gotten a new prodigy within the singer / songwriter tradition
Salley Gardens is a new and very interesting Danish group in the genre folk-pop. And it is in particular singer, Karoline Hausted that impresses. Not only does she at Down to the River show promising qualities as a vocalist, she also exhibits a real talent as a songwriter. Denmark has with her obviously gotten a prodigy within the singer / songwriter tradition. Eleven of the twelve tracks are written by Karoline Hausted with guitarist Peter Steenild. The twelfth is Dolly Parton’s Jolene. Significantly for the album as such the interpretation of Jolene is also the weakest track. The eleven homemade songs are more poetic, much more melodic and altogether much more saturated and heartfelt. The album as a unit has what it takes to open a market larger than the domestic. One you may hope that the group will have access to. The group's main weakness is, as to an increasing number of Danish groups, that it will be released on their own label, and therefore has a limited apparatus behind it for marketing, why Salley Gardens will risk not getting the deserved breakthrough.
REVIEW OF VARIOUS ARTISTS: KARRIEREKANONEN 2003
Dét man synger, er man selv
Af Klaus Lynggaard, Information, 17. Januar 2004
Uddrag af artikel:
(…) Det efterlader os med tre navne, hvoraf ét er så godt, at det skriger til himlen. Med sine to sange - “Hviskepigen” og “Hvem der var”- lægger Karoline Hausted an til en karriere af de store, thi her er noget så sjældent som et originalt kunstnerisk temperament på banen. Tyst, speciel og indtrængende er hun vanedannende som narko og fuldstændig umulig at få ud af systemet igen. Bizart hun ikke for længst er blevet overdænget med tilbud om et liv i sus og dus på et pladeselskabs regning, men hun er vel for god. (…)
ARTICLES ON KAROLINE HAUSTED:
Karoline Hausted - At finde en form for tryghed
Af Christian Erin-Madsen, GAFFA September 2009
Fra Kolding til Berlin
Af Peter Tougaard, Jydske Vestkysten Juni 2009