(Vocal Jazz) [WEB] Torun Eriksen - Luxury and Waste - 2018, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Torun Eriksen's 'Luxury and Waste', her sixth solo album, explores familiar territory in an utterly unfamiliar way. Where her previous album 'Grand White Silk' flirted with arrangements of grandeur, she turns now in the opposite direction and gives us new songs in an uncompromising, stripped back sound, shifting between cool, drifting moods and driving pulsating rhythms.
Bassist Kjetil Dalland is her sole companion here, and his subtle yet distinctive style is the perfect complement to Torun's voice, as she invites us into 'Luxury and Waste', her most intimate album yet. You will find Jazz, pop and soul, singer/songwriter and blues, all combined in Eriksen's unique and surprising blend. "I love how music can burst with references, and still have a distinct sound of its own. And I wanted this album to be like that. I have been searching for the core of my songs. We cut everything to the bone, were left with the raw and unpolished and tried to bring this very special light only to be found in the sketches, onto our final versions of the songs."
The intimacy that the simplicity of the arrangements affords is extraordinary. There is no hiding place, no elaborate mask of artifice. Truth and sincerity, the pure rendering of the song and its essence, and a perfect balance between voice and accompaniment: These things make 'Luxury and Waste' a uniquely sublime accomplishment in Torun Eriksen's career, as well as that of Kjetil Dalland.