In 2018, Norwegian artist Susanna (Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) released Go Dig my Grave featuring a series of covers ranging from traditional folk to Joy Division. Reviewed here on Folk Radio, it was described as “…an unsettling album of almost painful beauty and an impressive exercise in restraint and understatement. Dark, moody, eclectic: a small masterpiece of sombre beauty.”
In 2019, her album Garden of Earthly Delights (with her group the Brotherhood of Our Lady) featured musical interpretations of the surreal medieval paintings of Hieronymous Bosch while her 2020 album found her turning to the 19th Century French poet Charles Baudelaire for inspiration on Baudelaire & Piano.
Baudelaire was born in 1821, the same year as Dostoyevsky, both modernists and twins in suffering. 200 years on and his words and influence have not diminished. Probing the limits of desire, and confronting the simultaneous wonder and meaningless of existence are never light in their touch. For her new album ‘Elevation’, set for release on 25th March via SusannaSonata, Susanna continues her exploration and musical response Baudelaire.
Inspired by Baudelaire’s poem “Alchemy of Suffering”, she has just released her first single of the same name.
Nature, one man lend you fire,
Another dulls you with his grief.
What says to one: Here is the grave,
Says to the other: Glory, Life!
Those opening lines from Baudelaire struck a chord with Susanna…Some people are always complaining about the sad and horrible, others see possibilities everywhere they go. “I have learnt to include a little bit of both in my life, I will never be a perfect optimist.” She transforms the 19th-century poem into a modern experimental hymn.
On the video, Susanna added “The video for ‘Alchemy of Suffering’ is filmed and edited by cloak/dagger. The idea for the video is inspired by live presence, featuring dreamlike elements.”
The accompanying album press explains how it all started with a new English translation of Baudelaire’s work, by Anthony Mortimer. Susanna was entranced by the multilayered texts, with their “many colours, shades, moods and emotions”. She found “music” in them, and their rich symbolism and imagery made them inspiring material for adapting into song. Susanna was also drawn to Baudelaire’s worldview, which addresses questions of religion and morality with a certain force and elegance.
In Elevation, Susanna’s engagement with Baudelaire’s work blossoms into a collaborative enterprise, combining tape, spoken word and song. The result is a unique musical conversation spanning centuries and disciplines; a “time travelling” project, as Susanna puts it, that moves between creative dimensions.
Website: https://susannamagical.com/
Photo credit: Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard