Norwegian singer/songwriter Juni Habel’s third album Evergreen In Your Mind, her first in three years, is out next week. It is a lovingly crafted, minimalist album of enchanting folk. Juni Habel remains relatively unknown (for the time being) and she might not be terribly prolific. Howver, you sense that she is very much an artist committed to the integrity of her vision.
Co-producer Stian Skaaden, her regular collaborator, helped realise her vision in a partnership that has birthed 11 songs that comprise the album.
We always aim to capture effortlessness – but the way of getting there is anything but effortless,” Habel explains. “We would work on a small piece at a time, and spend a whole day on guitar and vocals for one song. Some songs we had to record several times, and in lots of different ways before it fit. I am usually impatient in these processes, but Stian is very calm. He makes me slow down and trust the process.”
Andy Mckay
is a lifelong prisoner of music and is one of Chelmsford’s old guard, having been in The Prodigal Sons, Apple Creation and The White Gospel. Currently with post-punk gaze band, Snakes, he continues to obsess and enthuse over music, film and writing. Snakes’ latest lp, Expo, is out now.
An enduring musical partnership and process
The process obviously worked extremely well. There are intricacies to her finger-picked patterns that bring to mind the complexity of Nick Drake or End Of History-era Fionn Regan. The album has a similarly hushed, haunted, supernatural, and, at times, melancholic atmosphere. Habel is seemingly able to be part of time, of space and place. There is a sense of the otherworldly, of the songs having been informed by the spirits, folklore, and landscape of Norway.
Vocally, she has a pleasing, conversational, confessional delivery that brings to mind Lisa Hannigan and Linda Perhacs. It’s very easy on the ear. Yet she’s not averse to including an instrumental (‘Pearl Cloud Song’) that originated from her falling upon an unfamiliar guitar tuning. Something Mr Drake was adept at doing too.
Fans of Nick Drake, Karen Dalton and Neil Young will find much to enjoy in this musical equivalent of an evening spent alone by the fireside.
The Times
An immersive LP
This is an album to listen to, pore over, and savour. “It’s nostalgic. It’s about looking back and realizing things will be different,” Habel says. “It’s about visualizing something beautiful in your head that you keep clinging onto.” Which perhaps explains why the album simultaneously sounds contemporary and yet could have originated in the coffee bars of early 60s Greenwich Village. It’s this charming misplacement of time and space that makes Evergreen In Your Mind so encompassing. It enables your imagination to run through its soundscapes and is totally immersive.
Highlights
High points are many. ‘Another High’ is a gorgeous yet deceptive love song. The rather Ronseal title of ‘Gitarhum’ might be a tad too literal but the picked patterns intrigue. ‘I’d Like To See It’ could be an unearthed recording from 1961 but its contemporary backing instrumentation playfully twist its retro core.
The aforementioned ‘Pearl Cloud Song’ is pleasingly lo-fi and the table leg percussion only adds to the homespun hues that the music refracts. Nice. ‘Safe’ has its atmospherics enhanced by its use of time signature. The lead single, ‘Stand So Still’ is perhaps the album’s manifesto and most traditional melody. It is timeless, rather classic, and will no doubt help Habel win over a fair few folk aficionados.
Final thoughts
It may be that it’s too traditional for some and not experimental enough for others. However, this is a strong set that charmingly blends the past with the present. It is beautifully imagined and executed, thoughtful in its production, and perhaps hints at a few ways in which Juni Habel might further evolve her sound. Check her out.
Evergreen In Your Mind by Julie Habel is out 10 April on Basin Rock.
