Synnora: “Nordic Love Songs” – engaging melodies and infectious confections
Twenty-seven year-old Synnora is a Norwegian singer/songwriter. She wrote, composed and produced her debut album “Nordic Love Songs” concentrated on down-to-earth themes about the ups and downs of being human. If you’re a regular listener who is tired of listening to auto-tuned and overproduced music, this artist will bring some solace to your soul. Her voice is fantastic, exhibiting great control and confidence across her entire register; great highs and lows while not overdoing it. I’d say half of the songs are very chill and relaxed, while the other half are fairly upbeat and energetic. The entire album makes you want to sit back, put your feet up, light up and bob your head. The instrumentation too, is a real nice blend of traditional and modern sounds. While her lyrics largely mine the familiar ground of romantic relationships in its varying stages, Synnora has an unerring knack for wrapping her warm, inviting voice around the engaging melodies of her infectious confections.
You’ll find songs filled with piano keys, accompanied by acoustic guitars, and soft voices filled with emotion, like “Big Girls”, or retro soul rhythms driven by jangling electric strums, as on “Drunk Dive”. But Synnora can also get down and be funky with a jazzy feel on “Just Let Him Know”.
She can slow it down to sweet folksy eloquence on “Young Guns” and then slide into a reggae flavored Caribbean beat on “Visiting Hours”. Mostly she can just be magnificently captivating as she is on the slower ear-worms – “Completely” and “Business”.
Synnora is able to switch to the delicately airy synths and melodic harmonies of “No Pills” the one moment, and then just plainly knock you out with the upbeat piano and guitar sprawl of “Bing”.
The Norway-based singer’s songs are melodically simple, yet so very striking, and goes beyond the standards of pop thanks to varied instrumentals and her nuanced vocals. Listeners get a sense of pop, folk, rhythm and blues and a number of other influences in her songs. As a result, the album sounds different than a typical pop record.
The beats of the drums, piano and acoustic guitar play a strong role in her music, all combining to create a compelling, worldly organic sound. The lyrics of Synnora’s songs articulate heartfelt messages to her audience. They are full of sympathy, warmth and compassion, even in the bittersweet moments, and as a result are accessible to a large audience.
Many of which have lived through similar moments, and now have a voice retelling those stories. Synnora’s core ideas for these personal songs are solid and the vocal work that carries the music is outstanding.
Anytime a new female artist comes out there’s a certain amount of suspicion involved. “Where’s the gimmick?” is the big question asked about female artists. Is she hot, does she have a powerful voice, is she insanely weird?
“Nordic Love Songs” places Synnora away from the group of gimmick female artists who sing other peoples songs to achieve commercial success and places her into the company of the actual female singer-songwriters who make art and music. So get over any preconceived notions you might have with this one; it’s worth your time.
The most refreshing part about Synnora is that she’s just genuinely creative and talented and that’s translated very well on “Nordic Love Songs”. From the beginning to the end of this recording, Synnora has rendered a delightful album that will consistently intrigue listeners.
