Ane Brun - Rarities

The Norwegian chanteuse’s second release of 2013, following a Best Of, sees her collecting 20 covers, B-sides and live takes onto two CDs that, ironically, perhaps even more than the Songs 2003-2013 compilation, showcase the honey-tongued singer at her best.
Covers make up the majority of the work here, including three stellar Emmylou Harris songs, recorded prior to a tribute show in Gothenburg to the Queen of Cool Country: ‘All My Tears’, ‘Tragedy’ and the wonderful ‘Orphan Girl’. She also repaints The Beatles’ classic ‘From Me To You’ in bittersweet pastels, gives Elvis’ ‘Crawfish’ a reggae-tinged, brass-filled veneer, while tackling Cohen’s ‘Ain’t No Cure For Love’ and Dylan’s ‘She Belongs To Me’ with panache.
The real finds, here, however, are the more unusual interpretations. Bjork’s ‘Joga’, recorded live at the Polar Music Prize 2010 with the Swedish Philharmonic Orchestra, is far more accessible than the original. Depeche Mode’s ‘Fly On The Windscreen’, from a US ad campaign, with Vince Clark on production duties, is beautifully tender, and Eurythmics’ ‘It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back)’ is nothing short of gorgeous. The chirpy piano-led ‘Falling Down’ is a Kate Bush-like cover of fellow Norwegian act St Thomas, who tragically died in 2007 at the age of 31. Pick of the bunch, however, is a stunningly simple take on Beyoncé’s monster hit ‘Halo’, where the voices of Brun and Linnea Olsson, together with simple pizzicato guitar and violin, show just how masterful a pop song it is, even stripped of its huge production.
Of Brun’s own compositions, ‘Daring To Love’, written for the Juliette Binoche film, A Thousand Times Goodnight, is a younger, spryer sibling of ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’; ‘Humming One Of Your Songs 2013’ is a new smoky take on an old favourite, while the zippy ‘Petrified Forest Road’ is amongst her finest work.
Brun is absolutely massive in her adopted home of Sweden. Surely, it can’t be long before the rest of Europe cottons on.

Key Track: 'Halo'