Orchestral Pop Music Meets Me

What do you get when Björk, Frou Frou and Enya have an epic battle and eventually – through some as-of-yet unknown property of physics – become merged into one mutant artist?

Kate Havnevik.

Not the answer you expected? I know, I was fairly sure that Björk would manage to dominate too, but I would also be surprised if you had even heard of Kate let alone her music… Unless you watch Grey’s Anatomy religiously, at which point you would have been exposed to her track “Unlike Me” in some season or another. I don’t follow the show and as such had to educate myself on her presence the hard way.

And by “hard way”, I mean to say my girlfriend found her and enlightened me upon her return from work.

Either way, Kate creates a mirage of soothing orchestral chords garnished with well proportioned synths and topped with airy vocals (there seems to be quite a few airy vocalists in my playlist recently) on her album Melankton (apparently named after a cultural reference in her native Norway and translates to “black rose”). The style is most similar to Frou Frou – not surprising since Frou Frou’s Guy Sigsworth helped produce a few songs on this album – but with a bit of Enya’s calming presence thrown in to mellow the resulting concoction out a bit.

For all of these comparisons to what I would consider more well known artists (at least in the US), Kate is entirely her own entity. The subject matter of her songs is varied, and the manner in which she presents each song is unique and somehow classier than any of the comparisons.

I would embed a YouTube video here as an easily digestible example of her art, but Kate is somehow affiliated with Universal Music Group who can’t seem to run an internet viral campaign to save their industry…

What to take away…

Kate may be one of those artists with limited appeal to virtually everybody. I think the orchestral nature of the otherwise pop music lends a generalizing hook to her music that kind of snags everybody’s ear.

What should you expect?

I get to use the word again: orchestral. The sheer complexity of the presented music is exhilarating and a definite change from the normal guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard of standard rock sets. An injection of a mild strain of electronica adds an even more elaborate gilding to the album.

What would Kate’s music pair with?

Tattoo and pomegranate juice in stemware.

Favorite song?

“Timeless” – I’ve listened to it at least three times as much as any other song on that album. Unfortunately, it seems to be only available on the American release of this album, and there is no trace of it on last.fm so I have no sample to which I can link. My girlfriend, however, thoroughly adores “Sleepless” which does have an entry in last.fm.