SOUNDTRACK: AURORA-Tiny Desk Concert #486 (November 9, 2015).
Aurora is a Norwegian singer (I was sure her accent was Irish, so I was pretty surprised). She was just 19 when she recorded this.
Aurora is a beguiling performer to watch because her sincerity comes through with everything she does–from her hand gestures, to the power of her voice, to the intensity of her face, which only relaxes when the song is truly over.
All three songs are just her accompanied by an acoustic guitarist (who sings backing vocals).
“Runaway” is a beautiful song of despair: “I can’t take it anymore…but I kept running for a soft place to fall.”
Between songs she seems completely moved by her words. Once she composes herself, she has a nice chat with everyone. Then she says she’s going to scream a bit high, “is that fine?” Interestingly, her loud is not as loud as many other singers who don’t ask permission.
“Murder Song (5,4,3,2,1)” begins with her beautifully singing “5,4,3,2,1.” And then the song gets pretty dark and a little disturbing. For she is killed in the first line of the song, and she is so passionate about it she sways and moves her hands in time with the “Oh oh ohs.” I think things somehow work out though–it’s a little hard to parse.
“Running with the Wolves” has a pretty spooky chorus of the two of them singing the title in falsetto. She’s pretty intense as she sings this song, making varied emotional faces. And the fact that she looks to be about 12 makes them seem even more intense.
I found watching her to be a bit disconcerting, and I’d love to know more about her. There were many parts of her songs that I liked a lot. And I’m curious to hear what she’d sound like with full instrumentation.
[READ: September 9, 2016] Nobody Likes a Goblin
I wrote this about Hatke’s previous picture book (which I loved), Julia’s House for Lost Creatures:
I don’t normally write about kids’ picture books (if I did my whole blog would be about them as we read so many). But this one gets a special mention because a) it was published by First Second and b) I love Ben Hatke’s drawing style so much.
Hatke has drawn books for slightly older kids, but he also does sweet (and slightly weird) books like this for littler kids.
This book really shows that nobody likes a goblin (even if he is creepy cute). (more…)
Read Full Post »
After seeing Aurora in New York last year, I knew I’d go see her again if she came back to the States. So I was pretty excited that she was scheduled to play Union Transfer. I bought three tickets–one for me, one for S. and one for T. This was going to be her first club show. She had been to an arena to see Katy Perry, but I thought this experience would be really different for her.
I Just Read About That... 