Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Randi Tytingvåg: Lights Out

2

Randi Tytingvåg: Lights Out

By

View read count
Randi Tytingvåg: Lights Out
Reading that this EP was partly the product of illness and a miscarriage, this collection of four and a bit songs under such a foreboding title might have been expected to be darker, especially considering Norway's reputation for such expression. Randi Tytingvåg, however, has an innate lightness in her voice and writing.

Strange, in this case, that songs and singing of Richard Thompson come to mind. The songs are very strongly but simply constructed around their principal themes, the choruses repeating the emotion without overstating them, as in the painful "Today Was Cancelled": "I'm lost in the dark right away; Show me a way for heaven's sake; The story is so incomplete— our eyes did never meet."

The tastefulness of the arrangements resembles Thompson's use of the foremost contemporary musicians, using a variety of instrumentation to fill out the songs. The closing "Light Grey" best reveals this style, with Knut Reiersrud's harmonica straining against Tytingvåg's voice over a strongly strummed acoustic guitar.

This is far from experimental or cathartic music; rather, Tytingvåg's lyrics and elfin voice convert the pain of her subjects into lyrical pearls. "Reading by Per Fugelli" is the only exception, featuring the gravely voice of writer and doctor Per Fugelli, reciting a thoughtful Norwegian text over a simple guitar part. Otherwise the pieces are closer to a type of Scandinavian chanson—strongly appealing while, at the same time, profound and touching.

Track Listing

Blind Ignorance; Dark; Today Was Cancelled; Reading by Per Fugelli; Light Grey.

Personnel

Randi Tytingvåg: vocals, prepared piano; Knut Reiersrud: electric guitar, Mohan Vina (Indian slide guitar), high-string guitar, harmonica; Dag Sindre Vagle: guitar, baritone guitar, backing vocals; Erlend Aasland: banjo, baritone guitar, cavaco, backing vocals; Per Fugelli: reading.

Album information

Title: Lights Out | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Ozella Music

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.