Customer Reviews

And She Closed Her Eyes

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got stina's first album after 6 months of frantic search and finaly found it as a swedish import... when this album was realeased, I ordered it about é months before.. and since then I just can't fail to listen to it once every week. Stina's music is here at its best, gentle, warm, touching and there's something else... Stina's voice seems to whisper in your ear during most of the songs, as if she was standing just next to you. I strongly recpmmend this record for anyone looking for something nice..to talk about.

This album is strange and cannot be compared with something else. This has two main reasons: 1. The voice of Stina Nordenstam is unique (strange (bad?) pronounciation and even stranger whispher-like vocals). 2. Many of the tracks have very empty, bare, acoustic arrangements, although some of them suddenly go with the flow and in their second half have strings and even boy choirs. Well, from this I hope you will get the picture. Stina Nordenstam is surely not everyone's cup of tea. But if you gave her a try, and try again if you do not like it first, you soon discover the emotional wealth of her songs. I reckon that most of the songs here are about a lost love(r). It is an album for autumn skies and quiet days. I do not like all songs on this album, that is why i will not give het 5 stars overall; the best songs, however, deserve more than five. Try it and love it !

Stina Nordenstam is today what Emily Dickinson was a century ago - profoundly ahead of her time. Ask anyone who's ever heard her voice, they'll tell you that she epitomizes the term "acquired taste." I discovered this siren when I bought the William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet soundtrack, on which her astounding "Little Star" is featured. Five years later, I found this CD on sale for 7 bucks and picked it up - back then, I wouldn't have bought it at full price. I heard the record once, twice, and couldn't adjust. Her voice was too subtle, the music like undulating whispers - this was my impression of the entire album. But I knew I wasn't being open minded, because I still very much enjoyed "Little Star" - I was simply not ready to take in something so eccentric. Several weeks later, when I realized this, I played the record for a third time - this time with and open mind and open ears - and my reaction was undescribable. The music played right into my gut and heart. It took me back to a nostalgic time in my childhood and teenagehood, helping to unlock certain things that had happened which I had viscerally tucked away in the corners of my mind. And she Closed her eyes is haunting, not despite the softness but because of it. Stina's voice, the music, the choirboys' voices and the pillow-soft drizzle of rain all blend seemlessly to create a series of stories rarely ever disclosed with this much rawness (as in Tori Amos raw - vehement, not necessarily frurious). If you listen to it once and don't comprehend it, listen to it again. Consider it a lesson in open-mindedness.

From the first twang of the cd, Stina shows that she is not trying to play something that is easy to listen. Then why listen? Her frail voice seems like it needs to be held gently, but then she carries the melody strongly and it brings out a great contrast. With this cd, Stina also takes grasp of issues and stories others would not think write about. She is a breath of fresh air when everything becomes irritating, but she definitely takes some getting used to. I love her poetry and I hope that she gets much deserved credit for her talent. If you want a cd to talk about with someone or to listen to when everything else gets old, this cd will interest you and never get old.

Stina Nordenstam has created an intelligent album with an exceptionally personal touch. The scene of the music is rather gloomy but conveys something real and honest. The lyrics have been used by actors throughout Europe and appear very convincing both on paper and in voice. Listen and feel something.

This Swedish songwriter/artist's second album frames her unsettling, bittersweet narratives in gentle, eccentric production, openly influenced by Suzanne Vega's 99.9F album. More fully-realized and less precious than her debut, MEMORIES OF A COLOR, the album swings from the eerie, fractured "When Debbie's Back From Texas" (written for 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell) to "Something Nice" 's genteel acoustic pop. Despite the album's initially lukewarm sonic impression, it soon reveals itself to be full of dramatic tension; the loudest instruments are barely audible, while Nordenstam's cracked ghost-whisper of a voice is disarmingly loud. While occasional songs drift by on a passive-aggressive cloud of emotional numbness, the great majority of this record will rip out your heart strings as soon as pluck them; the ultimate effect is like honey laced with hemlock. A beautiful achievement.

Purely magickal, full of incandescent colour. Stina is amazing and majestical. With every note she takes you to new terrains, Her music is from a different realm, sweeter than wilting roses in the summers honey sweet heat.

I would say that this is the most relaxing CD I have ever listened to. whatever mood you are in makes no difference, put this cd on and you pulse will almost stop. The music is simple, her voice is childlike, however this combination works really well. Beautiful music sung beautifully. Although she is not the next Bjork, there is no comparision between the two, the music and voices are very different.

I got the word on Stina by friends who were always telling me to check her out since I'm a diehard Anja Garbarek fan. Just about all the reviews here are dead on. This is one of the very few albums you'll get through your life that will completely move you, that will make you want to get under a bunch of covers in your bed with the lights off and bliss out forever. It's so rich and deep, it will affect you in a very personal way. I know that sounds cheesy but you just have to check this album out.

Stinas voice barely breaks a whisper as she mainlines her whispering vocals right into your ear drums while the ethereal-ish folky music envelopes and hypnotizes you to the threshold, as if you are suspended in a warm milky womb where no matter what is going on, you'd rather be nowhere else but in front of your speakers. The music is light, something to listen to alone... definitely nothing you could dance to.

This is a difficult album to review because nothing really sounds like it, aside from Anja Garbarek who has a much more surreal atmosphere. The album is sad, but it is probably best recieved by those who can ultimately see the beauty in sadness... and in that aspect, this is an incredibly beautiful record.

I've owned this album for several years. I HAD to find it after hearing 'Little Star' on the "Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack."

This album has a very haunting sound but a very beautiful sound also. Stina's voice has all of the qualities of whispering and being very comforting.

This album was with me through some really rough times in my life. It seemed to echo my emotions. I have lent it to several people because I think Stina's great, but I never tell them about where the album was with me. After they have listened to it, I usually tell them about my experience and they usually understand how I could listen to this album a lot when I was an emotional wreck. Even after not listening to this album for several years I still know a lot of the words to the songs and I can feel it bring back some of the emotions of early 1997. I'm a big fan of PJ Harvey and listened to PJ's album "Rid of Me" a lot through a break-up, but it doesn't evoke emotions like "And She Closed Her Eyes..." in me.

I'm still very intrigued by Stina's music.
I think album is perfect to attach your current emotional state too. It seems to reflect your happy and sad emotions all at once. If you're happy, you can attach your happy state too. :)

Stina's newer album "This is Stina Nordenstam" doesn't allow you to get so attached, but that's a good thing! It has a few more poppy songs, dance-y almost.

If you have "This is Stina Nordenstam" you need to listen to "And She Closed Her Eyes" to see where she's been. to