Considering just how eclectic Hanne Hukkelberg's music can be, it's not much of a surprise that the Norwegian singer-songwriter benefits greatly from changing her environment when it’s time to start composing the next record. After her wondrous 2004 debut Little Things, she relocated to Berlin, and it was there where her accomplished follow-up Rykestrasse 68 took shape, gracefully evolving from idiosyncratic little Jon Brion-esque pastiches to more well-rounded blends of jazz, folk, pop, and even some Kurt Weill-esque cabaret thrown in.

For her third full-length, Hukkelberg decided to head north instead of south. A lot farther north, in fact, on the tiny Norwegian island of Senja, located some 180 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Living in such isolation would have one assuming the resulting album would be one of stark intimacy, something along the lines of Múm's sublime 2004 album Summer Make Good, but while that cozy ambience does play a significant role on Blood from a Stone, the songs themselves turn out to be some of Hukkelberg's most extroverted work to date.

Read the full review. [8/10]

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Midnight Sun Dream
Salt Of The Earth