Ane Brun: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

April 1, 2016 by TOM HUIZENGA

Ane Brun recently turned 40, and she — like many of us who've reached that milestone — has been taking stock of her life. It's a life filled with music and success, but there have also been a few rough spots. Like the time we scheduled her to play a Tiny Desk concert in 2012 and she was forced to cancel an entire North American tour (with Peter Gabriel) due to a lupus flareup. Brun, a Norwegian native based in Sweden, was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease when she was 27.

But after that episode landed her in the hospital, Brun told NPR she'd had something of an epiphany. "I got an enlightenment somehow. And also freedom. Because I feel that freedom is an absence of fear."

Brun isn't afraid to face her demons. Many songs on her absorbing new album, When I'm Free, speak to her newfound freedom and fresh opportunities. She sings three of the album's slower, more reflective numbers for this Tiny Desk performance.

In "Still Waters," Brun sings, "How I've been longing / Oh, for this moment when / The rivers are running / Towards the same sea / For this moment when I'm free." Her voice, with its tight vibrato and expressive coloring, walks an emotional line between vulnerability and confidence.

Brun is undervalued as a songwriter. She turns out introspective, insightful portrait pieces, rhythmically complex rockers and tender love songs which are at once sensuous and probing. "All We Want Is Love" sways gently, but also questions the very definition of ourselves.

She closes with another song about taking control of her destiny. The title, "Signing Off," may sound ominous, but then she sings: "Everything that's broken / Everything that's gone wrong / I am gonna carry that with me / Mend the streets with it stone by stone."

As far as turning 40 goes, Brun says she doesn't mind time passing by. And her admirers shouldn't either. It just means more compelling albums to come from one of today's most insightful musicians.

When I'm Free is available now:

Set List:
"Still Waters"
"All We Want Is Love"
"Signing Off"

Credits:
Producers: Tom Huizenga, Niki Walker; Audio Engineers: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: NPR.

[mycupofindie]

This is how I like to listen to Ane Brun : just a piano/guitar and her voice. THIS VOICE.

[gmayster]

Makes me wonder ... Invites me to consider ... how beautiful voice can be as an instrument

[clairebear]

She really sings the truth in such a delicate way. I heart this!

[Omtatsatup]

I feel privileged to be alive at the same time this beautiful artist is on planet to see her perform is a truly uplifting experience bless you lovely Ane Brun

[bigbattenberg]

This lady speaks to my heart. So very relatable, this song. How amazing music is, life is unimaginable without it.

[hugabuga]

Breathtaking...I'm so glad that I found her music. Her voice, the piano and guitar playing, the lyrics - when I listen to Ane Brun it is like time stops and an atmosphere occurs, where I feel deeply understood, seen and hugged. :-) I'm looking forward to see her live in November for the first time!!

[SimonNgYH]

I come back each time to draw strength for such a beautiful voice!

[therisinghope]

Love this tiny desk.!
Those ear-bells...i am 100% sure, she did it on purpose. She normaly wears no burdens like this, on her ears.
This concert was also very special to her, i am absolutely sure.!

[Watchitneow]

I LOVE HER!!! "Do you remember" is one my favorite songs to this day <3

[andyt]

What a rare GEM!! Love how Ane makes the guitar hum with her voice

[BN-cdok]

I just encountered Ane's music for the first time yesterday (1 Feb 2019) and already I have listened to the songs "All We Want Is Love" and "Signing Off", which she very thankfully performs here, about 200 times each, over and over and over. I have filled my little apartment with her beautiful words and her singularly beautiful voice. They are such achingly lovely songs. Tusen takk, Ane.

[DeshGP-bn]

In chemistry this would be a distillate, up and away from the heat, around the coils and turns of her amazing voice, materializing the crystalline spirit of human experience.

[timothyhaupler]

Ana just found you and bursted out in tears hearing you, this is magic what your doing beautifull beautifull beautifull

[carmensolanolopez]

Oh my, this woman is beautyful from the in and outside.Her undescribable, distinctive, most beautyful voice has captured me from the first moment i listened to the song "still". I love you and your" sounding poetry".Ane Brun ❤

[thefleetcat]

Thank you for doing what you do, Ane. You are beautiful in every way.

[RayasNegroOvejas]

Oh, didn't expect to see Ane here!

[pokracuji]

I have been following several Swedish singers for a long time, although I prefer her two colleagues, but Ane has the best sense of dynamics of all of them and I also appreciate the fact that she aims her music only at the heart, unlike other singers who, with their rhythm, dance and overall expression, also target other body organs, which is sometimes ok, but more or less it rather disrupts and devalues ​​the basic idea of ​​the work.

[stewartmcdowall]

Words are never enough for a moment such as and love

[erekalaseter]

Wow she’s so beautiful and each song is so gorgeously done. Her voice and lyrics bring tears to my eyes 👏🏽 🫶🏼

[jenniferrhoades]

A rare and exceptional artist. Moving and mesmerizing.