Frøkedal—Hold On Dreamer (2016)/I See You (2015)
A Norwegian national treasure quietly releasing top-tier indie folk.
The more I dig into the Anne Lise Frøkedal discography, the more apparent it is what an incredible array of fine albums she has been part of over the the past 22+ years.
Usually you find out about someone’s really early work, and it’s little more than an embryonic sign of what followed, but with her, you can go right back to Dharma, and stick on Saturdays off their 2004 debut, and it’s all there: proper Scandi power pop a-go-go, with The Soundtrack Of Our Lives legend Ebbot Lundberg doing la-la-la’s, no less.
Her work with I Was A King ought to be more well documented than it appears to be, but trust me, that band has to be one of the most ridiculously under-appreciated bands of all time. Fun fact: my youngest’s favourite song for about a year was Growing Wild from their Follow Me Home album. Justifiably so: it’s wonderful.
To my shame, I wasn’t even aware Anne Lise even had a solo career. I say “to my shame” when I mean, to my nation’s shame. We routinely fail as a nation to notice a lot of the great music coming out of neighbouring countries, and instead miopically focus on some often pretty bang average stuff. I’m looking at you, 6Music.
To be truthful, it has been a feature of living in the UK since I can remember. Sure, some real legends have emerged out of these isles for decades, but the tendency to overlook the talents from everywhere else was going on when the music press was big, and continues now.
I remember hearing about how French radio was once required to play 50% French speaking music. Well, it’s a bit like that here sometimes, except for having to play a high percentage of UK artists. The upshot is it means that a whole load of Scandi artists like Anne Lise Frøkedal are complete unknowns here. I cannot recall ever hearing a single one of her songs, or anything by IWAK, or any of the many other projects she’s on either.
So getting to hear her debut solo album, Hold On Dreamer has to be intentional. You have to want to go and check it out, you have to seek it out. You’ll never hear it in the wild, that’s for sure. But having been steeped in the I Was A King albums since 2009’s self-titled classic (the one Anne Lise joined the band on), hearing her solo stuff feels like an extension of that band.
I never really thought of her outside of that band, but it turns out Anne Lise is a prolific talent in her own right. Right from the start, the songcraft is striking and immediate. There’s a folkier element to it than IWAK, but it suits her voice and songwriting style immensely. Tracks like W.O.Y. and Cherry Tree lodge themselves in your brain immediately. The refrains always have you absent-mindedly singing along.
The same year as this debut came out, a standalone EP was released, presumably from the same sessions. The two probably could and should have been part of the same LP, and all of the remaining songs work alongside this set, and are like a third side of the album, if you like.
Since then, she has been consistently releasing albums ever since. A further three excellent solo LPs have come out, the most recent last summer entitled Stay, while three IWAK LPs have also joined the party (plus a new introductory “best of” Best Wishes—A Shortcut to I Was A King).
If you’re shaking your head wondering who I’m on about, have a listen.
