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Susanna Interview: Pure Piano Poems

Photo by Martin Rustad Johansen

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Over the past couple years, medieval painter Hieronymous Bosch and 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire have intersected in the vision of prolific Norwegian vocalist and composer Susanna Wallumrød, who has now released two separate records inspired by the works of both. But whereas last year she interpreted the strange and majestic Bosch works with a band, she gives Baudelaire’s work more space to breathe. With just her voice and a piano, the aptly titled Baudelaire & Piano, out this past Friday digitally and on vinyl, CD, and cassette via her own label SusannaSonata, is a collection of poems from Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil (as translated by Anthony Mortimer), delivered by Susanna in song, set to lilting, steady, solemn piano riffs. But don’t let the starkness and minimalism of the arrangements fool you--with it comes the potential to add on. Playing in Norway, who has opened up to allow live performance, Susanna pre-premiered the songs at this month’s Punkt festival in Kristiansand and last night in Oslo, with just voice and piano. But later this month, at the Henie Onstad Art Center in Bærum, she’s presenting a more fleshed-out experience. Susanna will be joined by tape recorder composer Stina Moltu on commission for this unique performance, which will also include costume design and scenography from Thale Kvam Olsen, lighting design by Gard Gitlestad, sound design by Ingar Hunskaar, video from Pekka Stokke, and further photography and video material from Carsten Aniksdal. It’s the ultimate manifestation of these works, and one that potentially previews more performances and songs to come.

I spoke with Susanna over Skype earlier this summer about her creative approach to her recent records, how she’s adapting Baudelaire & Piano to the stage, and her concerns about the livelihood of artists due to COVID-19, even in a comparatively progressive country. Read our conversation below.

Since I Left You: The past two records were inspired by specific figures. Did you take a different approach responding to the written word and including the subject’s written word as opposed to responding to painting?

Susanna: Yes, even though it’s kind of similar, it feels like it’s much more locked down when I use someone else’s words. It feels more similar to maybe doing interpretations of other people’s songs, almost. There are parts of it that I haven’t made myself.

SILY: How long had this album been in the works?

Susanna: For some time now. I think I wrote the first song in 2017. It just started out with a few songs. I liked them so much I wanted to make it a new project.

SILY: Chronologically, you had the previous album last year and this one this year. Was that just a coincidence, or is this part of a larger trend of works you’re doing?

Susanna: I’m not sure right now, but I think it’s some kind of result of getting some commissioned projects around 2016-17. I sort of felt like, “Okay, I can really go in a different direction now.” To see if I find something else that I can write about or make music to. The album that came out last year was written in 2016, and about a few months later, I started to write this Baudelaire thing. It feels like there are several things happening in a more creative place.

SILY: Was this one a commissioned work as well?

Susanna: Not specifically, but it has turned out to be that. I’m doing a special concert performance in the fall based on this material from the album and also more elements, both music composed for tape recorders and scenography, costumes, light, video. A whole set of other elements supposed to go together with this music.

SILY: The recorded part of it is way more minimal than your previous record--it’s just you and piano, down to the album title. Did you make that choice to keep the emphasis on the words?

Susanna: Yeah, I think there are so many layers and pictures and different moods in these poems, so I just wanted to give them lots of space to exist just the way that I made them. At least I wanted to start out there, to present them in that sparse way, and my plan for the poems is to take them with me in bigger settings after a while. We’ll see what that will be. I want to play these songs in other settings, maybe next year. For now, it’s all about the piano and the voice.

SILY: When you do your performance later, how are you going to go about still trying to maintain the emphasis on the poetry with all those additional elements?

Susanna: Well, the idea for that performance is to make sort of a setting to present the poems for the audience to take in in a slightly different way than a normal concert, because I want to make the whole room about the experience of this poetry. So it’s not just a normal stage and the audience. It’s more like we’re spread out in one big room, and there’s gonna be all kinds of visual elements surrounding us. Hopefully, emphasizing the both the songs and the poetry. There may be some recitals of the poetry. Just different elements linked together.

SILY: Overall, for this project, how do you decide how you’re going to sing the words and what piano melodies are going to go along with them?

Susanna: It is a little bit hard to answer because it’s not like I know all the poems from [The Flowers of Evil] very well. I just started to read, and I felt sort of a connection to certain poems. That’s kind of similar to the Bosch paintings, because for some poems, it felt like, “Oh, here’s a story with certain moods or pictures opening up to me.” I just felt like singing the words, so that’s how it started out, with just some chords or a riff or a mood. Or, I could quite easily hear a melody for the words and build it around that. It’s hard to explain.

SILY: When was the first time in your life you recall coming across Baudelaire’s words?

Susanna: I think that must have been around the time when I made Flower of Evil back in 2008. That was actually through a painting that was inspired by Baudelaire poetry. That’s how I found out about Baudelaire. Of course, I had heard his name before, but I didn’t really know so much about his work. That was the first time. It’s been random occasions where I’ve gotten to know a little bit. Diamanda Galás has done music to his poetry. There’s also a really cool record from the 60′s or 70′s by a woman called Ruth White called Flowers of Evil. It’s an electronic album with freaky recitals and lots of cool 60′s synthesizers.

SILY: Do you think the mood of this album pretty well matches the mood of the poetry itself? Or were you trying to create contrasts?

Susanna: I think this is my interpretation. The poetry is still open for interpretation by anyone who wants to read it and take it in. This is just one way to present it. It’s a little bit similar to cover songs, because it’s material people know, and they already have a perception of what it is, so it can go along with that or be sort of disturbing to people that someone’s bringing something else to the table.

SILY: How did you go about deciding the sequencing of the songs?

Susanna: That was a process that just lasted for some time after I recorded the songs. I started to listen back. I was trying to sort of make a track record that felt like a story that was evolving, but I also see each song as a separate story. I don’t know, exactly. [laughs] I do know that the concert performance will be in a different track order. It depends a little bit on the setting.

SILY: You have a lot of flexibility there because even though it’s just you and your piano, there’s a lot of variance within the songs in terms of tempo and the piano lines themselves. “The Enemy” and “Mediation” revolve around a repeated line, whereas others seem to be a bit more swaying in their melody. “The Vampire” has stop-starts, and there’s staccato in “A Pagan’s Prayer”. Was instrumental variation important to you?

Susanna: Yeah, I think so. That was part of the decision for making this album just about the piano and the vocals. The songs turned out the way that they did. It feels very much like each song is a separate world or identity. It feels very much to me that the piano voice is an important voice together with my singing. That’s how I wanted to present it.

SILY: Do you think in the future you could ostensibly present these songs along with other songs from your catalog, in a live setting?

Susanna: I’m hoping to be able to mix them up with my own songs. I think in the beginning I’ll probably play this program at different literature festivals and settings linked to the literature world. But I’m hoping to actually include them in my set.

SILY: What’s the story behind the cover art?

Susanna: All the drawings for the record and singles and everything are by Marjorie Cameron. She’s an American artist. She’s not alive anymore, so I’ve gotten the permission to use her art. She’s a favorite of mine; she was sort of an underground artist. She did paintings and drawings and small movies and things like that. There’s not much production of hers that’s around anymore, but there’s some. There’s an archive that has collected many of her things, so I’ve been able to get the permission to use her things. I think it goes very well with Baudelaire’s work.

SILY: You have these upcoming shows, but you had to cancel your dates through July. Would a live stream be of interest to you?

Susanna: I’m not sure. I haven’t been really keen on that idea. I think it’s a hard format to get through. But I’m constantly considering the possibilities that come along. Maybe I’ll do something in the fall, but right now, I haven’t planned anything. There were a lot of live streamed concerts in the beginning here, and the festivals are doing a small audience and then going online. I think I’d prefer to have an audience in the same room with me.

SILY: Did your government give artists a fair amount of money?

Susanna: There were different solutions for that for small businesses, and money you could apply for. They’ve recently made available some grants that we can apply for. So there will be some money. I guess it’s tough for many of us, but at least we have some kind of things that we can apply for, so that’s good.

SILY: Sounds like still not enough or ideally what it should be.

Susanna: It’s an uncertain situation. It’s hard not to worry about not just this year but the years to come, what’ll happen to the venues and places we usually play. I don’t feel very certain that we’ll have the same amount of places to play and options when we come out on the other side of this situation.

SILY: Or at least ones not owned by large conglomerates.

Susanna: Absolutely...I’m also kind of depending on going abroad Norway to play. I travel a lot outside of Norway in Europe and sometimes other places, but that’s not so easy now either...I don’t think I’ll plan for anything abroad this year, but maybe in a year or two.

SILY: What else is next for you?

Susanna: This project will be my main thing for a while. That’s what I’ve planned for. I’m going to write some more Baudelaire songs and take it with me in other settings, with other instruments and ways to present this material. That’s what I’m going to work with for the next year, so I’m excited about that.

SILY: Are these new songs from the same collection?

Susanna: All are from Flowers of Evil, but I’m not sure exactly which ones at this point.

SILY: Will they also be just your voice and piano?

Susanna: I’m not sure yet. Maybe they’ll come in different formats. Piano, vocals, and other instrumentation. At least that’s what I’m hoping to do.

SILY: What have you been listening to, reading, or watching lately?

Susanna: I’m very much into a French artist called Delphine Dora. She’s making a lot of really interesting [music]. She released one album earlier this year that I’ve been listening to a lot. She’s quite often releasing new things through Bandcamp, different kinds of collaborations or stuff she makes on her own.

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