I'd stick a You Tube clip of it here if there was one. It was there once, but has gone. You'll have to put up with my words. Which can't and don't really do it justice. If it ever gets back on there, then I'll post it. But for now, read on...
November 23rd
Kristina Bruuk-Supermodel-Kalevala 7”
single
The third, maybe
fourth, maybe even more than fourth, appearance of Kristina Bruuk, within this
year. I’ve mentioned her whenever a track from her label, Kalevala Records of
Finland, has shuffled up. On one occasion-sometime much earlier in the year-she
appeared as a guest vocalist on Dracula’s Daughter’s single, but this is the time
for Ms Bruuk to take centre stage and shine in her own right.
It’s quite
difficult to describe what she sounds like if you’ve never heard her before.
Kristina Bruuk is one of those artists where the idea of her is the main thing. The music is good, but you can’t put
it to one side and ignore the concept of Kristina Bruuk. (There are only a few
recorded and readily available Bruuk tracks anyway, so the mythology of her and
her life is intricately bound up with what you hear).
Everything
about her that makes it all lead to you wanting to hear more music-but on the
other hand, it’s actually better and adds so much to the myth that only having
this single to hand, is really all that’s required. Maybe it’s best to just
know that there’s only a couple of songs, and that you can weave and imagine
the best myth you can come up with based only upon five minutes or so of
shimmering Nordic pop. But it’s not really pop. And it’s not really rock
either. I don’t know how to explain what it is; but it’s not pop or rock or
soul or folk or anything like anything. It’s not as if it’s some tuneless
avant-garde racket either-which would be the next logical conclusion if it
didn’t fall into any of those other categories. (I do like the phrase tuneless
avant-garde racket (as well as liking tuneless avant-garde rackets)-that’s four
words that fit together so well). So, because there is a tune, a melody, verses
and a chorus, I suppose that “Supermodel” could work out as a pop song. Just.
It’s all so sad
though. I once had a Nico album-maybe it was “The Marble Index”, but I don’t
really remember. All I do know that it was the most miserable record I’d ever
heard. If there was ever any argument against drugs in music, then the Nico
album would have have it covered in 45 minutes. After hearing the first side,
you couldn’t think that it would be possible to be as gloomy as she was, but
flipping it over and playing side two, matters got even worse. There was no
light or slight relief-it was so dark and depressing that it was beyond parody.Things
only got better when the whole thing was over. It was the sort of music that
you didn’t want to play in the morning as it set up the rest of your day to be
totally ruined.
“Supermodel” isn’t like that-nothing could possibly be as
depressing- but it does have levels of melancholy that are deeper than anything
that Nico summoned up. And whereas I always sensed that Nico’s lack of
happiness was due to overuse of drugs and therefore not wholly genuine, I do
think that Kristina Bruuk touches a certain level of sadness that is rare in
any form of art, let alone popular music.
"Totally Shuffled" here:
Kindle book:
Paperback:
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