Ane Brun - Live at Berwaldhallen album review: emotional expansion of the heartbreak

Last year's Leave me Breathless caught Norwegian-born songwriter Ane Brun deliver a covers album that referenced the end of a love affair – from Nick Cave's Into My Arms to Radiohead's How to Disappear Completely, she grasped the mood.

Emotional issues take time to process, of course, and so rather than follow that album with a batch of original, insightful heartbreakers, Brun instead sifts through her back catalogue in the august presence of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Hans Ek (arranger/orchestrator for movies such as Let the Right One In, and In a Better World). Brun has a smart collection of songs to draw from, and with such svelte musical accompaniment further enhances the emotional range of original material like Shape of a Heart, To Let Myself Go and Undertow.

Yet again through cover versions, however, Brun reveals a form of responsive solace, and via such diverse people as Björk (Joga), Beyoncé (Halo) and Shakespeare (Sonnet 138: When My Love Swears She is Full of Truth) allows different voices to ease the listener into the depths of her despair. Enjoy! anebrun.com