Customer Reviews

Smiling & Waving

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I read a lot of things about this album, the only common point in all the reviews was: "This album is one of the best ever done in Norway". Without being a great specialist of Norvegian music, I guess it's true (unless Baloon Mood, Anja Garbarek's second album is better). But please, don't try to compare Anja Garbarek to anyone else.

First the comparison with Björk, doesn't appear to me as true. Both Anja Garbarek and Björk have a beautifull voice, but the comparison can't go further. Their styles are so completely opposed. Smiling and waving music captivates your mind with simples symphonies, and with very view instrumental background. The best comparison is maybe Stina Nordenstam, but Anja's Garbarek voice has the purity of cristal, far more than Stin Nordenstam. As a conclusion let say that listening to this album is like having a break, everything is fluent here. It is like a moon stone felt on earth just to make you feeling better. So let's have a break.

Anja has an innovative and haunting style. Her voice is beautiful, and sometimes eerie. The album begins quietly, very tranquil, with "Her Room," with weaving voices, lush harmony, and plenty of clicks and abstract rhythms. Then it descends into "The Gown," drawing more experimentation with piano, beats, and sounds. The album's best are "Her Room," "The Gown," "Stay Tuned," (with her chilling chorus), "Big Mouth," and "That's All." All the songs are amazing, some more memorable than others. Yet, nothing denies the fact that Anja should be better recognized for her original and mezmerizing music. It's a rarity to find talent under the mainstream music, these days.

"stay tuned..there is more to come.."

Reviewing an album like Smiling & Waving is not easy, in this seemingly easy listening record, there is too much to discern. You have to pay attention to every little detail in sound style, arrangement and influences, chances are you are still going to miss out a lot after several listens. Premature judgments are never accurate, they all lead to abortion after birth. An obvious reference point would be our dear Ms. Gudmundsdottir, concerning the fact that both of them hail from Scandinavia, but saying Ms. Garbarek sound like Bjork is really like saying Tori Amos sounding like Cocteau Twins. While Bjork has already proven herself to be one of the most important female musicians of our time, Anja's name is totally unheard of in millions of Bjork fans, which is really a pity because both of them are such groundbreaking artists. The two forces that drive them to sound fresher and more original are our screwed-up modern life as well as a desire to express them in new ways. Another comparison would be Ms. Nordenstam from Sweden, it is much more relevant because essentially the two recluses' voices are quite similar. The difference is while Stina sounds like she is an innocent angel descended into this sophisticated world, so they call it, suffering from endless departures. Anja sounds like she is taking a much more cautious approach to face the world. The later is smart because she realizes that the quality of her voice sounds like the former, so she carefully and cleverly avoided sounding like her by varying her techniques and her song arrangements, which is really a blessing for all of us because there should only be ONE Stina Nordenstam in this world, and people might aspire to sound like her, but the world doesn't need a clone. If I say Smiling & Waving is a deceptively happy title for such a deceptively easy listening record, you get the point that there is a facade to the record and a personality who made it, like Black Box Recorder's horrendously overlooked Facts of Life, Anja's intention is never to beguile anybody, she just made the medicine easier to swallow. Anyway, contrary to popular belief, so-called truths are not always the best for a person's mental well-being. I am making a false attempt to describe the sound of the album here: If you take the whispering voice of a more cautious, even claustrophobic Sarah Nixey from Black Box Recorder, mix it with the chill of Siobhan de Mare from Mono and the convex mirror reflection of Bjork's playfulness and quirkiness. Musically, you distill the ethereal beauty out of Cocteau Twins, fuse it with the ambient soundscape of Broadcast and a good deal of jazz influence from her father Jan Garbarek as well as the raw production from Bjork's new collaborator Matmos. You roughly get half of idea? If Jane Siberry's music is bounded by beauty, Anja Garbarek is bounded a rule that states that you can be bounded by nothing in the search for beauty. Let's head into the album, chances are that you are going to be sucked into the vortex created by the overlulling but inspired use of strings that is not dissimilar to that of Bjork's Selmasongs. The difference, however, is the aim: while Bjork tries to overkill with an anthemic ambience, Anja's employment of strings can be melancholic, intriguing, haunting, spooky or even suffocating at times, or all at the same time. It is much more disturbing so the effect is stronger. A track like You Know is a perfect exemplar of this: the use of brass to create a fairy tale kind of setting, then Anja's voice came in, accompanied by the sinister string, depicts this scary marathon of imagination. The Diver, which features the vocal of Robert Waytt, tells a story of a diver, the world's best diver, smiling and waving so beautiful but he couldn't swim!!! It effectively creates something beautiful and then destroys it right in front of your eyes. That's evil but impressive! Whenever Anja's voice raises from a whisper, it signifies a switch from the dull reality to some sort of fantasy of escaping. You can't change reality, can you? Maybe this is what we should do. There is not a single weak song on this album, everything is so well-constructed and she successfully topped her Balloon Mood, which might be more varied stylistically, but her sophomore album puts her work up there with Bjork, Laurie Anderson and Stina Nordenstam's best work. With the high standard of this year's releases, (check out Bjork's 'Vespertine' and Matmos' 'A chance To cut...) this eventually topped my year end list. A Must Buy!

I read a lot of things about this album, the only common point in all the reviews was: "This album is one of the best ever done in Norway". Without being a great specialist of Norvegian music, I guess it's true (unless Baloon Mood, Anja Garbarek's second album is better). But please, don't try to compare Anja Garbarek to anyone else.

First the comparison with Björk, doesn't appear to me as true. Both Anja Garbarek and Björk have a beautifull voice, but the comparison can't go further. Their styles are so completely opposed. Smiling and waving music captivates your mind with simples symphonies, and with very view instrumental background. The best comparison is maybe Stina Nordenstam, but Anja's Garbarek voice has the purity of cristal, far more than Stin Nordenstam. As a conclusion let say that listening to this album is like having a break, everything is fluent here. It is like a moon stone felt on earth just to make you feeling better. So let's have a break.

i guess it's really impossible to reach some sort of consensus on what's good or not, all one can do is offer a personal opinion. this album falls in the category of wilfully bizarre. rather like spending a hundred bucks to obtain a hairdo that looks like it's never seen a hairdresser, this album screams that anja worked with intense excitement on her songs so they would sound utterly devoid of any excitement. well, she succeeds, because i find them profoundly boring, and since i don't really feel cool and avant-garde when i wallow in boredom, to the trash bin with it.

I was sent this CD by a friend (and yes, he is still a friend) living in Norway and having listened to it 3-4 times, I am convinced that Anja believes that being too clever is the secret to success. I have never heard so much dross in one album with Stay Tuned being the only structured song on the album. Minimilistic doodling and adding twee noises to a cacophony of noise will never get Anja recognised. I still wonder which market she is aiming her sounds at and at times she makes Mark Hollis sound like Ian Van Dahl. Steve Wilson from Porcupine Tree works with her on this album and clearly does not lend any of his experience to the sound - not in a commercial sense anyway and the whole thing is messy, unstructured and designed for an audience waiting to be defined. I kept waiting for her to let go at times but she is playing safe throughout the album and only the aforementioned Stay Tuned hints at what she could do. While Bjork (and I do not want to compare both artists)can be over the top, she does produce and has produced some sublime material which is accessible, mainstream and commercial. Anja perhaps needs to rethink her way forward as this attempt will win her no real success. It is impossible to categorise this music outwith dull, lacking melody, structure and all over the place. Sorry Anja, the voice is definately there as in 'stay tuned', but other than that, it's back to the drawing board.

Para já, decidi escrever em português, pq é a minha lingua, e certamente tb existirão portugueses interessados em saber sobre Anja Garbarek. Para mim, este é um álbum bastante interessante. Talvez não seja tão cinco estrelas como outros, mas estas cinco estrelas que lhe dou, são bem aplicadas. Apesar de não ter nunca conseguido ter acesso ao álbum "Balloon Mood", acredito que este ainda seja bastante melhor, pelas músicas de lá que consegui tirar através do Napster, quando ainda funcionava!.. :)

Ouçam-no e vejam se não tenho razão; vão ver que vale bem a pena, uma musica bem bonitinha de uma voz maravilhosamente calma.