Slowly, Slowly

Siril Malmedal Hauge follows up her acclaimed album Uncharted Territory with a collection of songs that demonstrate she is an artist of astounding complexity and sophistication, musically adventurous without sacrificing the simple pleasures of traditional song forms, lyrically inquisitive and meditative, and vocals that drift and glide or soar and swoop according to the currents of the music. Songs explore many themes, not least reconnection with one's place in the world - and which kind of world that is, or should be. Nature, love, tenderness, transcendence, hope, speculation, remembrance, the erotic and the sacred all find their places within the fabric of Slowly, Slowly.

Musically, the album runs the gamut from raucous funky blues to tender minimal jazz arrangements that drip with atmosphere, from whimsical staccato percussive clap-alongs to dark ballads. The textures come from everything from hip-hop to cool jazz to country music and folk, all blended to perfection. We already knew that Siril Malmedal Hauge was an exceptional talent, but with Slowly, Slowly she has not only consolidated that, but made it bulletproof.