a r t i s t : A Taste of Ra
t i t l e : Morning of My Life
d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : Hapna (H.36)
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : 11/2007
t r a c k s : 01
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 55,5 MB
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"When we moved to tent and the light was golden and we were
young, and the magazine was all there was to bring, and you
woke in the night when the birds were singing just for you and
the smell of soil and the warm breath overthrew you, ohh it
moved you. All there was to it, was the morning of my life."
The overall idea behind the first two A Taste of Ra records
was for me to work with my voice, instruments and recording
techniques on a more personal level.
On this final record in the trilogy, I've taken a different
approach. It started off with one song that I developed and
visualized together with Jari Haapalainen into six movements.
Together they create a sense of a film-like dramatic pattern.
Then we tactfully decided on the right locations and casting
for the recordings, while Johan Berthling made some beautiful
arrangements for three of the movements. After recording and
mixing, I realized that we had created a musical monster that
will challenge and hopefully inspire listeners for a long time
to come.
Nicolai Dunger
Personnel: Nicolai Dunger, Jari Haapalainen, Johan Berthling,
Thomas Tjarnkvist, Santiago Jimenez, Bengt Berger, Mats Oberg,
Daniel Bingert, Jean-Louis Huhta, Per Texas Johansson, Jonas
Kullhammar, Johan Arrias, Andreas Berthling, Anna Rodell, Emma
Lindhamre, Lars Warnstad
http://www.hapna.com/H36.html
from foxy digitalis:
With a dozen albums to his name, Swedish singer-songwriter
Nicolai Dunger has kept a remarkably low profile over the
years. Whether his own choice or not, this position does allow
him to take bolder steps along the way without having the
masses breathing down his neck and that's exactly what he's
been doing with his A Taste of Ra project.
Morning of My Life is the third and final part in what is
supposed to be a trilogy. A continuous 40 minute track divided
in different, stylistic parts. Without having heard the
previous chapters, I can tell you by the sound of this one
that it definately hasn't been a failure.
Dunger is one of very few songwriters left in the vein of Tim
Buckley and Robert Wyatt, a pure vocalist, able to connect
with the hearts of many without losing its raw edge and
talented enough to experiment. When he sings his first lines
there's good hope for some goosebumps to rise from your arm's
skin. Rough and intense, Van Morrisson is the name that pops
right in to your head when you hear it. An acoustic guitar
plays along in a catchy, dry pattern, violins and an accordion
colour the background. It's gorgeously lush but humble at the
same time. As if Dunger's fighting for something he already
lost.
This emotional thread is key here, the moment he probably
realizes the loss his universe explodes in a cacophony of
broken harmonies whereout a beautiful, aching violin episode
evolves. The same lines he sings over and over appear again.
"When we moved to tent and the light was golden and we were
young, and the magazine was all there was to bring, and you
woke in the night when the birds were singing just for you and
the smell of soil and the warm breath overthrew you, ohh it
moved you. All there was to it, was the morning of my life."
It's not just the lyrics, which are beautiful, the way Dunger
sings them is close to over-emotional but extremely heartfelt.
Goosebump bonanza once again.
The realisation of the loss is followed by desperation as the
aching violins rise again to embark on a journey most
certainly approved by Godspeed You Silver Mt. Zion and co..
Brooding strokes of melancholy hanging heavy in the air,
Dunger has always been a somewhat heavy hearted brother but
this album is simply overwhelming in its intensity.
Morning of My Life surely isn't for every hardcore Dunger fan,
these levels of experimentation can be exhausting but when you
make it through and look back, you can't deny the beauty in
this particular morning.
8/10 -- Joris Heemskerk (14 November, 2007)
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01-Morning of My Life [41:59]
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41:59 min