Smiling & Waving [Import]

Anja Garbarek | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 29, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Phantom Sound & Visi
• ASIN: B000059H3F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,873 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #36 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Ambient Pop
  • #40 in Music > World Music > Europe > Scandinavia > Norway

Track Listings

1. Her Room

2. The Gown

3. Spin The Context

4. Stay Tuned

5. You Know

6. Big Mouth

7. The Diver

8. That's All

9. And Then

10. It Seems We Talk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the Queen of Ice Palace, October 26, 2001

By 

Sandy (Brussels, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smiling & Waving (Audio CD)

This album is pure ear candy. This is a collection of sweetest than chocolate pieces, where the fairy voice flirts with ethereal harps, violins, guitars and light electronic sounds. I had the sensation a little impish elf was floating around and whispering to my ear, which can cause some agreeable shivers down the spine.

The album is perfect for meditative moods as the songs are rather slow and laid back. The music style is very difficult to describe, I think it cannot be classified in any categories. One thing is sure: it is not mainstream pop. Comparing Anja to Björk is not really fair. Their voices have nothing in common (Anja is much smoother). The music is not exactly similar. No offense, I love Björk (and recommend her latest "Vespertine", just as all her previews albums). I just believe Anja is standing on her own feet. The comparison stands because both seem to experiment with sounds and instruments.

The light as soap bubbles "Stay Tune" and the dreamy "That's all" are already worn out on my CD, I played them on repeat mode so much. "You know" must have been recorded on a cloud. "Big mouth" has a joyful beat and an impulsive character. "The diver" is atmospheric. "And then" is a perfect example of how those songs sounds at the same time old and new, which makes them timeless. Those are just quick picks, I like the entire album. It was a discovery for me, and I purchased her first release "Balloon Moods" to get more of her.

Listen and make your own opinion, she might become the secret jewel of your collection.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars challenging modern jazz, October 2, 2003

By 

Brede T. Trollsaas "Music Buff" (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smiling & Waving (Audio CD)

first time I listened through Anja Garbarek's second album, it was a mixed experience. Instrumentals were minimalistic, largely leaving it up to Anja's frail voice to carry and structure the songs, and although I was impressed enough to buy the album after hearing the first three songs, I was far less impressed with what followed. but playing the CD a couple of more times gave me time to adjust and discover the beautiful neuances that lay close beneath the surface of little gems such as "big mouth", "stay tuned", and "the diver". also, some of the tunes are directly addictive, such as the astonishing and original "I won't hurt you". "Smiling and Waving" is challenging music, and not for the easy listener, but if you're a true music fan, you'll be likely to love this album in time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just about perfect., January 26, 2007

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smiling & Waving (Audio CD)

A dramatic shift from its predecessors, Anja Garbarek's "Smiling & Waving" finds the singer's backgrounds shifting from the pure electronica stew of "Balloon Mood" into a bizarre fusion of electronica sounds and acoustic instruments and orchestras. In part, I suspect some of this has to do with the presence of producer/musician Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree and No-Man, the latter of which seems to be clearly an influence on "Balloon Mood"), but also on the strength of performances from musicians as diverse as Wilson, Steven Jansen and Richard Barbieri (Japan) and Mark Hollis (Talk Talk). The blend works well, providing a bizarre context and ever shifting backdrop for Garbarek's often delicate and fluttering vocals.

This diversity of backdrops is probably best illulstrated by "Spin the Context"-- anchored by a startlingly agile bass violin yields to a clarinet and string ensemble, with Garbarek over the top, tentative, uncertain, and yet full of confidence before it all breaks down in the bridge with a shuffling rhythm (played by Jansen on brushes with a stunning amount of taste and subtlety) that bleeds into the chorus. But this sort of dissection could be made of pretty much any piece on here, whether it's the "ethereal industrial" of "The Gown" or the electronica beats-meets-string orchestra of "Big Mouth". On top of all of this, we get just immense vocal performances-- I've not heard anyone come close to the passion that Kate Bush could evoke until I heard "Stay Tuned".

I realize this all comes off as an extraordinary amount of hyperbole, but from the moment I heard this album, with all its quiet fury, I've been pretty much taken by it. Remarkably, I actually think that Garbarek's followup to this, "Briefly Shaking", is her masterwork (thus far), but "Smiling and Waving is not a record to be missed. Highly recommended.