It All Starts With One

Sweden-based Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun brings a mystical world into focus on It All Starts with One, where Tobias Fröberg's production creates a stillness that makes each note ripple with greater consequence. Her voice twists the words into a seductive cry, while the reverb lets her voice bubble up in beautiful, impressionistic doses. "Words" layers her voice strategically. The multitrack voices appear and disappear without warning. Her duet with Jose Gonzalez on "Worship" is a ghost chant that, over six minutes, expands into an ethereal meditation that could double as a film score, with its dramatic strings swooshing and its tribal rhythms lulling one into a false sense of security. The album credits two drummers, and their work is felt throughout. "Do You Remember" swings with a glee that's rarely heard here. Brun's focus is mostly on lovelorn ballads where the bruises are still sensitive to the touch. "What's Happening with You and Him" is a dramatic tour de force that takes the dour folk singer into the modern age.