Su Andersson: “Brave” (2022) CD Review

Su Andersson is a singer and songwriter based in Göteborg, Sweden. She worked as an architect until devoting herself full-time to music in 2019. You remember 2019, it was the year before the pandemic brought live performances to a sudden halt. In the spring of 2020, just weeks after everything went sideways, she released Train Stories, which featured material based on her experiences traveling by train across the United States. And then the pandemic gave her time for reflection, time to write, and soon she had an album’s worth of material ready. That album, Brave, was released in 2022. It’s a fantastic album of original songs, with several vocalists contributing to various tracks, their parts recorded in different cities in Sweden and in a couple of other countries. Recording parts remotely became almost routine during the pandemic, and led to some unusual and exciting collaborations. I really hope someone writes a comprehensive study of the music to come out of the pandemic, for it would be a fascinating read. Su Andersson provides lead vocals and plays guitar on this album. In addition to the guests vocalists, joining her on this release are Henning Sernhede on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mando guitar, sitar guitar, 12-string guitar, baryton guitar, dobro, bass, mandolin, organ and synthesizer; and Jonas Abrahamsson on drums, percussion, piano and backing vocals. By the way, the packaging for this release is a little hardcover book, its pages containing the songs’ lyrics, along with some artwork.

The album opens with “Japanese Tea,” which begins with some work on piano, Jonas Abrahamsson staying at the high end of the instrument. And for the first half of the track, Su Andersson’s voice is supported only by piano. Then Henning Sernhede comes in on mando guitar. This is a strangely beautiful song, with a sound and feel all its own. “Joined by curious/Singing blackbirds/While absorbed by the moss/On the ground/With a cup of Japanese tea/With a cup of Japanese tea.” That’s followed by “Southern Belle.” This one has more of a full band sound, with Henning Sernhede playing bass, acoustic guitar, mando guitar, sitar guitar and organ; and Jonas Abrahamsson on drums and piano. Eva-Marie Junker joins Su Andersson on vocals. “But this one, she’s real/Red lips at breakfast/If her hair is real or not/Who would care?/She’s got beauty in her eyes/In her ways of moving her hands.” The song is a good portrait, and it features an interesting instrumental section in the middle of the track.

Maja Granberg joins Su Andersson on vocals on “Scissors,” one of my personal favorite tracks. This one has such a cool vibe, with interesting use of mandolin. “It’s not a game for me/Sure not a game for me/That’s why I can’t have anyone behind me/You don’t need to put me in a corner, baby.” Ah, is that line some odd reference to Dirty Dancing? I don’t know, but I like the way the song builds for that section. And I love the way the two vocalists take turns delivering the line “I’ll go there by myself.” That creates an interesting effect, having two voices singing about being “by myself.” Then Ryan Edmond joins her on vocals on “Bread And Butter,” a song that has more of a haunted feel and features some nice percussion. “Like the veil of mist/On an island in the north.” Ryan Edmond also adds a beautiful part on cornet.

“Limits” eases in, with some soothing, gentle sounds at its beginning. Then the steady drum beat announces a change and things become a bit more tense. “I cross my fingers/I cross my legs/I cross the border.” Fia Ekberg joins her on vocals for this one, their voices sounding so good together. And I absolutely love Jonas Abrahamsson’s lead on piano. This song is another of the disc’s highlights. It is followed by “Northern Light.” There is no guest vocalist on this track, but Henning Sernhede plays a sitar guitar, giving the track a distinctive sound. This is an intriguing, exciting song. Check out these lines: “I follow the sirens/That are coming closer/Believe they will diminish/On the way to somewhere else/When they cease a block from mine/All while the raven in the graveyard/Sinister and wild/Makes a silhouette towards the/Hesitating sun.” Then “Brave,” the album’s title track, has a cheerful sound from the start, with accordion and mandolin. And the song’s opening lines had me laughing aloud: “Some call me brave, I’m not/I’m scared of thousand things/Some call me brave, but I/Don’t do the things that scare me.” I love the honesty of those lines. On this track, she is joined by Wendy McNeill, not only on vocals, but also accordion. Her part was recorded in Spain. “Let’s do the things that we love/Let’s do the things that we love.”

“Echoes” features a soulful vocal performance. This one is about wanting to travel back to New York to see friends, determining to take the first flight when she can (there was very little traveling that first year of the pandemic). Here Su Andersson is joined on vocals by Naiika Sings, who fittingly recorded her part in New York. This track has a rather powerful final section, featuring some good work on electric guitar, plus some excellent stuff on drums. That’s followed by “Turquoise And Rust.” The duo Jaded Jane (Axel Olsson and Adam Olsson) joins her on piano and vocals for this one. “You want company, I solitude/Just a room of my own/Where I treat images and words.” Those lines of course bring to mind Virginia Woolf. The album concludes with “Missing It All,” and here she handles the vocals without a special guest, though Jonas Abrahamsson provides some backing vocal work. This song has a good groove, and its main line, “Missing you all, missing it all,” repeated several times, is certainly a line of the pandemic. “Too lonely the day/Too much to take in/Too much to think of/I close my eyes/And I see you all.” Toward the end, the song takes on a sweeter tone for a time, before building again. This is another of the album’s highlights, with something of a punk energy at times. “I can touch you now/I can hear you laugh/A silent cry bursts through/I guess it’s me.”

CD Track List

1. Japanese Tea
2. Southern Belle
3. Scissors
4. Bread And Butter
5. Limits
6. Northern Light
7. Brave
8. Echoes
9. Turquoise And Rust
10. Missing It All

Brave was released on July 22, 2022 on Roots And Ramblers Records.