For Norwegian artist Vilde Tuv, it all started with the idea of a “one woman band.” At first, this concept manifested as playing bass drum and electric guitar while singing, but with Vilde’s latest album, Melting Songs, her all-in-one approach included writing, performing, producing, and mixing the entire album–and releasing it on her new label, Poesy.
Her breakout 2016 Norwegian Grammy nominated album D’meg embraced an alternative singer-songwriter vibe, but Vilde’s voracious artistic curiosity has since taken her into the worlds of experimental electronic music with pop, folk, ambient, and hard trance influences. In addition to being an active DJ in the club scenes of Bergen, Oslo, and Copenhagen, she was also the co-host of Borealis Listening Club, a forum for the exploration of genre-defying music.
Known as a skilled lyricist, Vilde’s voice and words are noticeably absent on Melting Songs, instead giving the communicative responsibilities over to the soprano recorder. The result is an album of uncomplicated acoustic melodies gliding over dreamy and playful electronic soundscapes.
Vilde Tuv–Photo by Poesy
Here’s what Vilde had to say about “Tenk at det fins:”
Flutes and movements of the high pass filter in electronic music are forms of sound that always create the most intense emotional experiences in me. That’s what led me to try and master the recorder and synthesizers well enough to convey my melodic messages through them. For me, music has always been emotional work. I know that when a piece of music releases an emotional knot within me, it can do it with others, too. “Tenk at det fins” is Norwegian meaning something like, “Can you believe it exists?”, the literal translation being “think that it exists.” It’s one of the most clear and direct melodic pieces of the album, with the recorder sneaking in the back door.
Melting Songs is out May 7, 2021, but you can pre-order the album here.
About Vilde Tuv
Vilde Tuv is an artist, composer, songwriter, and producer from Bergen, Norway. In her home country, she became known for her performances as a one woman band. Playing bass drum and electric guitar while singing, she mesmerized a growing audience which eventually lead her to tour Norway, Scandinavia, and abroad. Her Norwegian Grammy nominated album D’meg from 2016 met universal acclaim for its musical originality, strong lyrics, and stage presence.
Still a one woman band, but in this round with electronics and a recorder, the music on the new album Melting Songs came into shape through live performances during the last years, between Norway and Copenhagen where she has been residing since her last release. Her chops as a soprano recorder player in a classical youth orchestra got stuck in her fingers, and now serves the will to create a raw and direct melodic presence, with the soundscapes of field recordings from lockdown walks in Bergen, and echoes of music from dance floors from some time far away. Recent experiments have brought her to venues like Le Guess Who? (NL), H0l0 (NYC), Mayhem (CPH) and the Munch Museum (NO).
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN is an editorially-independent program of the American Composers Forum, funded with generous donor and institutional support. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and may not represent the views of ICIYL or ACF.
A gift to ACF helps support the work of ICIYL. For more on ACF, visit the “At ACF” section or composersforum.org.
