Anja Garbarek - Briefly Shaking

Her fourth album release following up the award winning "Smiling & Waving". The daughter of the Norwegian jazz composer and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, Anja spent six years in London before moving back to Norway in 2003. "I have a love-hate relationship with London. The single "The Last Trick" was written when we didn't like each other very much." Many of the album's lyrics are inspired by crime and horror books, "They gave me the dark language I needed to express myself," Garbarek says. "Can I Keep Him?" was inspired by notorious London serial killer Dennis Nielsen and features prominently in the Luc Besson film "Angel-A". Album Description

A magic record.

An album that has been a fixture of every CD player I can get near since the moment it arrived in my possession, Anja Garbarek's "Briefly Shaking" is in many ways a vast departure from anything she's done previously-- keeping the elements of electronica and the layered orchestral instrument arrangements, Garbarek for this record partnered with Icelandic alternative musician Gisli, who handles the majority of the instrumental duties. The result is stunning-- a slice of modern alternative art rock-- like an update on Brian Eno's '70s pop albums or a Kate Bush filtered through Seattle, or sometimes a bit of both.

Like the rest of Garbarek's album, diversity is key here-- whether a minimalist arranged alt-rock workout ("Dizzy With Wonder", with a comfortable middle register vocal below the stripped back pulse, "Shock Activities", pushed forward and forced onward by horn arrangements led by father Jan on honking baritone sax, explosive "This Momentous Day"), or chasing the ghost of early '80s Kate Bush (sublimely overarranged "The Last Trick", achingly beautiful and yet downright creepy "Can I Keep Him", a first person telling of serial killer Dennis Nilsen's acts) or just downright different (piano-driven and electronica hinting "My Fellow Riders"), it all works, and it all works perfectly.

Perhaps just as importantly, it's an album that's staggeringly unique-- it has its influences and some of them are worn proudly-- the aformentioned Eno and Bush but also father Jan Garbarek and hints of No-Man figure prominently, and it's passionate performance coupled with production by Garbarek that makes the best use of space of nearly any recording I've ever heard (check out "Sleep"-- the strings and organ pulse and throb in the background on the chorus, but Garbarek sounds like she's singing in your ear, or the previously mentioned "Shock Activities", it sounds like a scream of guitars driving it until you notice it's a horn arrangement). It's not like her older works, and it's not like the other Northern European women singers that Garbarek seems to constantly get lumped in with (Bjork, Stina Nordstrom, etc.), it's really quite unique.

The bottom line is that I've played this record for anyone who will listen to it. It's probably the best pop (used loosely) album of the past few years. Essential listening. January 27, 2007

A magic record.

An album that has been a fixture of every CD player I can get near since the moment it arrived in my possession, Anja Garbarek's "Briefly Shaking" is in many ways a vast departure from anything she's done previously-- keeping the elements of electronica and the layered orchestral instrument arrangements, Garbarek for this record partnered with Icelandic alternative musician Gisli, who handles the majority of the instrumental duties. The result is stunning-- a slice of modern alternative art rock-- like an update on Brian Eno's '70s pop albums or a Kate Bush filtered through Seattle, or sometimes a bit of both.

Like the rest of Garbarek's album, diversity is key here-- whether a minimalist arranged alt-rock workout ("Dizzy With Wonder", with a comfortable middle register vocal below the stripped back pulse, "Shock Activities", pushed forward and forced onward by horn arrangements led by father Jan on honking baritone sax, explosive "This Momentous Day"), or chasing the ghost of early '80s Kate Bush (sublimely overarranged "The Last Trick", achingly beautiful and yet downright creepy "Can I Keep Him", a first person telling of serial killer Dennis Nilsen's acts) or just downright different (piano-driven and electronica hinting "My Fellow Riders"), it all works, and it all works perfectly.

Perhaps just as importantly, it's an album that's staggeringly unique-- it has its influences and some of them are worn proudly-- the aformentioned Eno and Bush but also father Jan Garbarek and hints of No-Man figure prominently, and it's passionate performance coupled with production by Garbarek that makes the best use of space of nearly any recording I've ever heard (check out "Sleep"-- the strings and organ pulse and throb in the background on the chorus, but Garbarek sounds like she's singing in your ear, or the previously mentioned "Shock Activities", it sounds like a scream of guitars driving it until you notice it's a horn arrangement). It's not like her older works, and it's not like the other Northern European women singers that Garbarek seems to constantly get lumped in with (Bjork, Stina Nordstrom, etc.), it's really quite unique.

The bottom line is that I've played this record for anyone who will listen to it. It's probably the best pop (used loosely) album of the past few years. Essential listening. January 26, 2007

2 thumbs up and 5 stars

I was struck by "last trick" playing on the radio and ordered this album, without knowing anything from anja garbarek. See the review from Dede Korkut, I could not have expressed it better. April 20, 2006

Lasting and Sublime

I have been a fan of Anja Garbarek for quite some many years now. I have to admit that my attraction to her was the result of numerous Bjork and Stina Nordenstam comparisons, both equally talented and creative musicians themselves. So when I finally received my Briefly Shaking CD (after a month and half delivery wait), I was ecstatic. Having listened to the album in full, I have to admit that for all of its pop sensibility efforts, Briefly Shaking is not entirely easy an album to get into. Yes, there are very strong, magnificent pop hooks embedded in tracks like the loping, chiming clap-along single "The Last Trick" and in more delicate, lush, lilting numbers like the gorgeous "Can I Keep Him", but the album requires an effort on your part to see it through. It's only fair you put your share of work into listening to this album, because Anja has done her best to create some of the most inventive sonic structures this side of Bjork's Vespertine. And such creative ventures merit your patience for a maximum and wonderful pay-off. The feel of the album in comparison to her previous efforts is more scatter-shot (if the album cover's candy-coloured mosaic design didn't already tip you off). There are elements of lush classical strings, snippets of Nordic jazz (thanks, in part, to her father Jan Garbarek who contributes saxophone and musical arrangements to the album) glitchy techno that recalls Bjork, Matmos and Kid 606, straight ahead and playful pop, trip-hop loops (I hate to use the term "trip-hop", but there, I said it) and some menacing and muscular rock.
All these musical elements are twisted and wrapped around a candy-stick of some striking and evocative lyrics that are steeped in the macabre. The haunting, eerie themes of missing children, murderers, comatose victims and dead careers betray the sweetness of Garbarek's marzipan vocals. But not to worry, because Garbarek makes sure that the grooves and melodies hold your hand tightly and pull you through safely. She just doesn't feel that the overused lyrical usage of "oh baby, I need you" clearly expresses an emotion of love effectively the same way the analogy of a kidnapped child does.

I give this album 4 stars but I know that with a few more listens, it will earn a full five. It's that kind of album. It's needs your time and patience and emotions invested in it. Repeated listens will bring fourth many rewards and you will then understand how a sound can be described as "delicious". In a world that champions pop tarts with microphones, it's good to know that serious musicians have their noses pressed squarely to the grindstones of music-making, for the constant sake of bettering their craft. February 28, 2006

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