SUSANNE SUNDFØR & NOVO AMOR | LIVE REVIEW
Festival Of Voice, New Theatre, Cardiff, Wed 13 June
Prior to this event, I wondered if a 1,000-capacity theatre usually catering to pantomimes and musicals was the best choice for an evening of downbeat, sombre songwriting. Nevertheless, although the acoustics did at times struggle, the dramatic and atmospheric nature of Susanne Sundfør [above] and Novo Amor’s [below] music was more than at home in the semi-opulent surroundings of the New Theatre, and was gifted to the audience with a mixture of pathos, sincerity, and plenty of self-deprecating humour.
First to the stage was Novo Amor, and his four-part accompanying band. The ongoing project of Welshman Ali Lacey, Novo Amor began sharing his shimmering, Bon Iver-esque folk in 2012, and since then has released two EPs and a 2017 LP, Heiress, co-written with friend and fellow songwriter Ed Tullett. Tullett himself was onstage tonight, providing many of the set’s falsetto vocals – a signature aspect of Novo Amor’s sound – along with clean, golden guitar tones and a tendency for tracks to build from small beginnings into bittersweet, swelling crescendos.
Although sonically gorgeous, this formula – and the earnestness with which it was delivered – did after a few tracks become more of an intertwined ‘sound’, and so individual songs were less distinguishable; simultaneously, though the individual musicians played with skill, at times it felt like certain tracks struggled to exceed the sum of their parts. However, Lacey did acknowledge the nervewracking nature of hometown shows, and aptly, one of the set’s standout moments was a solo-piano version of Anchor – from 2017’s Bathing Beach EP – which allowed for a closing distillation of Lacey’s tender and ethereal musicianship.
After a short interval the stage was re-revealed, with a grand piano, a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar and a small synthesiser setup visible. Sundfør then swept in from stage left, cloaked in an elegant long black dress and accompanied by her Canadian bandmate Megan Kovacs, and after a short greeting in her sweet, singsong Norwegian accent, she began with Mantra – the whimsical opening track from her latest album, 2017’s Music For People In Trouble.
Compared to the last three of her five released LPs, which developed a more electronic, synthesised sound – think Robyn, Björk or perhaps FKA Twigs – Sundfør has described MFPIT as a return to her more folk/country-based roots, and tracks from this album provided most of the evening’s material. Having jokingly declared after the opener that she would be playing “more sad songs, but perhaps with one happy one”, she then moved from guitar and piano throughout the set, each new piece allowing for her crystalline Nordic tones to fill the auditorium with the sincere but serene storytelling from tracks such as Reincarnation, Good Luck, Bad Luck and Undercover.
The one rumoured ‘happy’ song did make an appearance amongst the dark, hypnotic lullabies in the form of newly-penned Sleepwalking, before Sundfør finished by giving a thanks to “this beautiful city, and the beautiful people,” and was reciprocated with ample applause and hearty calls of “caru ti!”
words DAFYDD HAINE photos SIMON AYRE