Rykestrasse 68

Rykestrasse 68 is the new album from the Norwegian singer-songwriter, who received critical admiration for her 2005 debut, Little Things.

Having relocated to Berlin to record this, her second album, Hukkelberg has maintained the melodic delicacy and sleepy seductiveness and - no doubt inspired by Germany's capital - bolstered them with crosscurrents of emotional turbulence, conflicts and turmoil.

The scene is set as opener Berlin ("my neighbour's balcony / old bullet holes / behind wild botany") weaves ambient street recordings through a subtle mix of strings and woodwinds, while Hukkelberg's elegant voice breaks casually through the din.

Returning from his work on Little Things, veteran producer Kåre Vestrheim encourages Hukkelberg to incorporate stray objects into the dense arrangements, allowing the additional sound effects to flourish and retain their natural form. Under such an adventurous arrangement disparate objects like a typewriter and a cat are allowed to achieve maximum dramatic impact. Such composition works best on the atmospheric The North Wind, which is deftly augmented by clacking typewriter keys and glistening wine-glass glissandos.

The dusky version of Pixies' Break My Body writhes fiercely under Hukkelberg's deliberate jazz-inflected intonation, giving fresh intensity to the song's abstract violence. More abstract still is Ticking Bomb, which transposes a thick cipher of distress across a shifting canvas of acerbated piano, Mule Variations-style percussion and broken beer bottles.

As a vocalist, Hukkelberg is at her best on the deceptively scruffy groove of A Cheater's Armoury, as she utters, "you gamester / you fool us / we watch your spinning wheel / and the longer it takes for us to heal". It's left deliberately unclear whether she's admonishing a lover, a friend or a political leader. Then there's the existential narrative of The Pirate, where the woozy blend of accordion and piano effectively mirror the downcast lyrics with a seasick lurch.

Just as with the immaculate Little Things, Hukkelberg proves willing to allow a little discord into her carefully orchestrated surroundings, and her captivating work is all the richer for it. But, perhaps as a product of her relocation, Rykestrasse 68 is grander and more continental than her debut.

It's hard to assign a specific sound to a singer who has been involved in everything from free jazz to rock'n'roll to heavy metal.

But when it comes to Hanne Hukkelberg, that sound is dreamlike freak-folk, wrapped in feather-soft experimental melodies. And her second album "Rykestrasse 68" is a really exquisite little affair -- though it has a few too-ambient moments, it's still quirky, elusive and wistfully sweet.

It opens with birdsong, the sound of a car, a fuzzy strummed guitar, and a soft chime every few seconds. "Old bullet holes/Behind wild botany/On the outside/Of the penny marked/Punks are selling/Black and white fanzines," Hukkelberg croons in a high, sweet little voice, as she describes the relief of just baring your soul to someone.

It's followed by the quirky bouncy "Cheater's Armoury," a playful mishmash of jazz and folkpop. But she doesn't restrict herself to just one kind of music: she turns out lush psych-nautical ballads, swirly blippy melodies, airy Norwegian pop, string-laden love ballads, and the gloriously tight, ominous "Ticking Bomb" -- the piano even sounds a little like a ticking-down clock.

But two songs stick out particularly. "Fourteen" is an alluring little experimental tune -- think an acid-trip at a winter Renaissance Faire. And as weird as it is to hear Hukkelberg singing coolly "I'm a horny loser," her cover of the Pixies' "Break My Body" is the best of the album -- a powerful, dark melodic song that gives an eerie edge to "break my body/hold my bones."

It's hard to really compare Hanne Hukkelberg to anybody -- think a more ethereal Emiliana Torrini, a more accessible Bjork, a more experimental Stina Nordenstam. And her music is equally hard to pigeonhole, since it has elements of freakfolk, chamberpop, electronica and jazz, but isn't really close enough to any of them to be labeled.

Well, they're still pretty -- crystalline, unpredictable and quietly soothing... or unnerving. The instrumentation is layered with lots of strings, piano, electronics and an acoustic guitar, as well as some medieval wind instruments, chimes, accordion, and a bit of tambourine. And they're played pretty much how Hukkelberg wants them to be, whether it's in strong waves or in hesitant little spurts.

As the finishing touch, Hukkelberg infuses these songs with found sounds -- a wineglass chiming, what sounds like windchimes, typewriter keys, a car's tires on gravel, clattering bottles, and even a touch of rain.

That dreamlike music is helped along by the songwriting, which can be lyrical ("Come when the coat's on fire/North wind, north wind/Come when the sun chokes us") or minimalistic. ("Olden soul/Dinosaur/Sincere/Open/Playful"). And while she often sings in that sweet, high, fairylike voice that a lot of Scandinavian singers use, she can switch over to magnificent, powerful vocals (see "Break My Body" and "The Pirate").

It takes a few listens to get used to Hanne Hukkelberg's spacey, crystalline folk-jazz-electro-pop, but once you sink into "Rykestrasse 68," there's no going back.

It's hard to assign a specific sound to a singer who has been involved in everything from free jazz to rock'n'roll to heavy metal.

But when it comes to Hanne Hukkelberg, that sound is dreamlike freak-folk, wrapped in feather-soft experimental melodies. And her second album "Rykestrasse 68" is a really exquisite little affair -- though it has a few too-ambient moments, it's still quirky, elusive and wistfully sweet.

It opens with birdsong, the sound of a car, a fuzzy strummed guitar, and a soft chime every few seconds. "Old bullet holes/Behind wild botany/On the outside/Of the penny marked/Punks are selling/Black and white fanzines," Hukkelberg croons in a high, sweet little voice, as she describes the relief of just baring your soul to someone.

It's followed by the quirky bouncy "Cheater's Armoury," a playful mishmash of jazz and folkpop. But she doesn't restrict herself to just one kind of music: she turns out lush psych-nautical ballads, swirly blippy melodies, airy Norwegian pop, string-laden love ballads, and the gloriously tight, ominous "Ticking Bomb" -- the piano even sounds a little like a ticking-down clock.

But two songs stick out particularly. "Fourteen" is an alluring little experimental tune -- think an acid-trip at a winter Renaissance Faire. And as weird as it is to hear Hukkelberg singing coolly "I'm a horny loser," her cover of the Pixies' "Break My Body" is the best of the album -- a powerful, dark melodic song that gives an eerie edge to "break my body/hold my bones."

It's hard to really compare Hanne Hukkelberg to anybody -- think a more ethereal Emiliana Torrini, a more accessible Bjork, a more experimental Stina Nordenstam. And her music is equally hard to pigeonhole, since it has elements of freakfolk, chamberpop, electronica and jazz, but isn't really close enough to any of them to be labeled.

Well, they're still pretty -- crystalline, unpredictable and quietly soothing... or unnerving. The instrumentation is layered with lots of strings, piano, electronics and an acoustic guitar, as well as some medieval wind instruments, chimes, accordion, and a bit of tambourine. And they're played pretty much how Hukkelberg wants them to be, whether it's in strong waves or in hesitant little spurts.

As the finishing touch, Hukkelberg infuses these songs with found sounds -- a wineglass chiming, what sounds like windchimes, typewriter keys, a car's tires on gravel, clattering bottles, and even a touch of rain.

That dreamlike music is helped along by the songwriting, which can be lyrical ("Come when the coat's on fire/North wind, north wind/Come when the sun chokes us") or minimalistic. ("Olden soul/Dinosaur/Sincere/Open/Playful"). And while she often sings in that sweet, high, fairylike voice that a lot of Scandinavian singers use, she can switch over to magnificent, powerful vocals (see "Break My Body" and "The Pirate").

It takes a few listens to get used to Hanne Hukkelberg's spacey, crystalline folk-jazz-electro-pop, but once you sink into "Rykestrasse 68," there's no going back.