Music For People In Trouble

This was unexpected. Honestly, I was a little bored in the first half, but the second half really caught my interest until the finale. I believe, if there is an afterlife, the last track on the album, "Mountaineers" with John Grant (who I love), will be playing as you ascend into Heaven. What a wonderful song that almost had me in tears it was so beautiful. Was a 3.5 for me at first, but easy 4. Great album.

You get teleported to some magical, norse fairytale with angelic singing. Lovely album to dream away

Haunting and lovely. Would make for a good "walk in the woods in autumn" album.

At last! A brilliant album that's been handpicked. Well done whoever you are 👍

This made me feel more intelligent if that makes sense. Great add.

Chilling album. Felt like Joanna Newsom. Nice lil listen.

The roughness of this, the voice and the simplicity, yet somehow complex structure really get to me. Nicely chosen!

Sundfør is completely off my radar, so this record is a grower for now, close in time and to its likely worse contemporaries. But there's plenty about which I can speak glowingly. A big part of me likes to spice up science fiction - ahem, putting away childish things speculative fiction - as really about ideas, really about the present, a real source of potential and not mere entertainment. And there are two instruments which apply a space schema to country music: Synths and steel. Plenty of the former here, but understated; Music for People in Trouble time-travels, is timeless, ventures out by dabbling back. Melancholy, but there's hope in its complexity.

ugh, more twee waify folk. I'm sure it's very sophisticated and stylish in Scandinavia but boooooooo hiss. 2/5.

Good.shit. 5

Norway? Hell yeah, Norway! At first I just thought this was very lovely, but maybe not super distinctive, and then it proved me wrong by going to some very interesting places. Moog?! I love this lots!

This odd phenomenon of Scandanavians sounding like some variety of American pop singers... still I liked this a lot, other than the spoken word bits that felt a little pasted on and pretentious to me.

7/10. This was nice, but it didn't quite hit home for me.

Quite excellent stuff, very moody and cutting in its restraint.

WOW. I had never heard of this artist before and from the very beginning it grabbed me. Simply sublime. Familiar-sounding yet completely distinctive. I have a feeling this will become a regular part of my listening rotation, and I will check out her other work as well. Thank you to whoever added this to the list! 4 stars.

I'm saved

Pop. Folk. Melódico. Tranquilo.

Weird. Beautiful. Weird. I have loved a few songs, especially 'The Sound of War'

C'est doux et c'est bon. C'est scandinave a ce que je vois et je ne suis pas familier avec l'artiste mais c'est Un style que j'aime vraiment. 3.75

Chill, mellow, and folksy. An after-dinner mint.

Delightful voice, chill tunes

Solid compositions

I really loved the voice and atmospheric vibe on this album and enjoyed listening to it.

Mellow drama.

Beautifully sung and mostly very sparse arrangements. Starts well, like a purer Lana Del Rey, then, for me, just gets a bit boring. However, i can see why it has been submitted as a strong “album to hear before you die” in the same vein as fellow Scandinavian Bjork’s minimalist folk albums.

Folk poetry mostly one star

This album is stunning. Suzanne Sundfør’s voice is powerful and arresting and her lyrics are thought provoking and exploratory. There are moments of pure minimalism punctuated by lush synthesized arrangements that provide the perfect complement. This is folk/chamber pop at some of its best. The album is just absurdly beautiful. It is one of the best records I’ve heard in a while.

It's a rare treat to find an album with a twist. Up to five minutes into the fourth track, 'The Sound of War', this is a really nice straight singer songwriter album. Then the listener is hit by a three minute sound collage, followed by the ambient spoken word title track. It stays brilliantly weird from there. Atmospheric soundscapes form the basis or context of the remaining songs and enhance the emotional heft of the record, making a fascinating and affecting listen. The sounds wash over the listener, bringing them into the album's world. A triumph of ambition, creativeness and sequencing. I can only see the record getting even more interesting with further listens. Rating: 4.5 Playlist track: Noone Believes in Love Anymore Date listened: 30/07/24

Well this was just lovely. Excellent choice!

This one was pretty.

I definitely have a type when it comes to music. This is it. I just love some etheral folk sounds. I will have to dig deeper into her discography because this is what I love. My personal rating: 5/5 My rating relative to the list: 5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Indifferent. Leaning more towards a yes but am fine if it isn't.

Outrageously beautiful. Stellar share; we weren't going to get to hear this magical work otherwise.

Art pop, chamber folk. Muy bonito y tranquilo.

Quite a cool listen. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. 7/10

Great find. Thanks for adding the album.

Never heard of her before. Right from the start, I knew this was something I would really like. Thanks to the submitter of this album. I think it is amazing. I would definitely listen to other albums by her as well. I look forward to getting to know this album better over time. 4/5

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Mantra, God luck bad luck, The sound of war, Undercover

beautiful, very much enjoyed

This was very low key - a bit too much so maybe at times - but mostly lovely listen.

Great folk singer-songwriter album. I like this better than her electronic music.

This was so lovely, thanks for sharing it. Slyly minimalist at the outset, with surprising depth that develops as the album progresses. Susanne Sundfør's vocal isn't the best, but it suits the mood perfectly. Fave Songs: Undercover, Reincarnation, The Golden Age, The Sound of War, No One Believes in Love Anymore, Mountaineers

This was a wonderful surprise of an album. Gentle, atmospheric and really beautiful. Will be listening again!

Super, super cool album, I seriously dig this one. Ethereal, urgent, natural, a lot going on here. Scattered voices, sounds from out of left field, didn't know what to expect around each turn. Especially loved the title track, a lot of the electronic blips and stuff reminded me of the score from Night Gallery's "A Feast of Blood" segment - essential viewing. Loved this album, exactly the sort of thing I'd like to find on a list like this. Favorite tracks: Music for People in Trouble, Reincarnation, The Sound of War, Undercover, The Golden Age, Mountaineers. Album art: A statute of a woman with a treeline behind. Are we to believe this is the artist reincarnated, or was she perhaps the subject in a past life? There's an eerie lifelike quality to this statute, I appreciate it. 4.5/5

I really dislike using the word "medieval" here, but it does have that feel to it. Slow, patient, very heavy on the story telling emphasis. It's gorgeous. I think the speaking parts laced throughout bring it down a bit, but I think it's something you could, with time, grow to not mind. Favorite tracks: "Good Luck Bad Luck", "Undercover"

A passionate singer-songwriter set. Reincarnation and Undercover are standouts for me, and most of the rest of it is very samey, but they are all pretty and soulful. Strangely the title track and the intro to The Golden Age take you out the mood, but make the whole experience more interesting, as it is unexpected on this type of album. Lastly, the closing track, Mountaineers adds a cool ethereal tone that also elevates the whole piece.

Haunting

dreamy ethereal

Living and enveloping soundscapes

This took me by surprise! At first I wasn't that impressed but some of these songs were amazing. Totally reminded me of elements of First Aid Kit, Angel Olsen and Lana Del Rey. I'm certainly interested to look into more of her stuff!

I browsed through the other LPs released by this Norwegian singer with admittedly wonderful vocal chops, displaying synth pop / dream pop, sometimes verging closer to weird The Knife-adjacent territory, and I'm afraid what I have heard from those other albums felt a little underwhelming to my ears -- not bad by all means, but certainly not the best you can find in that genre. *Music For People In Trouble* is a VERY different animal, though, and I want to thank whoever added it to this list. I never would have found out about this record if I had only taken into account the most streamed albums by Susanne Sundfør. First, this particular LP delves into minimalistic folk turf that's way more artful and impressive -- like a (surprisingly successful) mix between This Mortal Coil and Joni Mitchell at times, with steel guitar touches that are as spacey as they are evocative. On first listens, some of the songs fly by without leaving much of an impression, but I suspect most of them can reveal their flavors in the long run. And others, like "Reincarnation", clearly stand out right away. Then the album (gently) pulls the rug from under your feet with some strange synthetic soundscapes actually *adding* to the whole journey -- that dark ambient instrumental interlude at the end of "The Sound Of War" was simply amazing. And finally it keeps its most impressive gems for the second side, a choice I always find as bold as it is dynamic, making you want to immediately spin the record all over again. "Undercover" and "Mountaineers" (featuring John Grant) are just extraordinary songs, sending you into a part mystical, part elated mood that very few artists can send you to (mostly thinking about Björk and Lana Del Rey here). Besides, the fact that those songs seem to link personal introspection with more global concerns makes it topically relevant, which is cream on the cake. But beyond its lyrical intent, that I would need to focus more on later, this LP simply makes me want to visit Norway's fjords. And in a sense, it feels like I have already visited them a little, thanks to the music on it. So thank you for the trip. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 13 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 19 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 37

This started off as a quite lovely acoustic album, with breathy vocals over sparse textures, and was nice enough if a bit overly familiar - but something changed at the end of The Sound of War. The track ended with this unsettling drone that did not let up and just held you in that noise, and the following song was much more avant-garde and felt somehow ominous. The second half of the album was back to the quite lovely acoustic stuff but there was this underlying eeriness, with a rich dreamlike quality that reminded me of Jenny Hval or Agnes Obel. The project closed out with the sumptuous Mountaineers, with an almost unrecognisable John Grant feature, and the final couple of minutes were actually transcendent

Beautiful

Well, isn't this just the eye-opening listen, and a rare modern example of an album that truly feels like an album. Not just a collection of songs, but a carefully structured journey; cohesive, narrative, and full of intention. At first, it unfolds like an acoustic folk record: intimate, fragile, and quietly beautiful. But Susanne Sundfør doesn't stay in one lane. By the title track, a strange, dystopian undercurrent emerges - subtle electronica, ambient noise, radio crackle - and suddenly the ground starts to shift. From there, the album gracefully drifts between genres, pulling in jazz touches, ambient textures, and eerie sci-fi detours. The effect is unsettling and powerful, like something ancient being swallowed by the future. The album feels tender, yet haunted. And what's truly impressive is how it balances these sonic turns without ever losing emotional coherence. It’s thoughtful and well-crafted, a slow burn that rewards patience and close listening. In a post-album era, this feels like a rare and deliberate work of art. 4,5*

I enjoyed that. First song or two I thought it was nothing special, but as it progressed I found it more and more interesting.

Great voice. Moody atmospherics. Great in a winter morning. Hard to fault really

This was a pleasant listening experience.

Chamber folk. Relajante. Ni fu ni fa.

Pretty good

Pretty

This was a very unique album and knowing a user submitted this makes it even cooler. Some songs didn’t resonate with me but I got lost in others. Very ethereal.

At first I thought this was gonna be a gillian welch type country album but then it went in about every direction a singer-songwriter album can. It started country but went into folk, jazz, fantasy, even ambient stuff at times which was cool.

Good album, but don’t know something was missing for me to add it to my frequent rotation, maybe needs a Couple more listens.

Solid!

Simple, sincere, soulful. The sound of war and the title track didn't really do much for me. Overall, some of the introduction to these songs leave me wanting a bit more.

Real nice on a Tuesday morning

Switches between "generic pop" and "ethereal forest music" like a metronome. I think I liked it?

Me like

3.5

Nice enough- she has a good voice and the music is beautiful. Not too keen on the lyrics on some songs- having everything rhyme is not essential and some of them are corny. Still, overall it's a good album.

This was nice but I got a bit bored.

This album felt like a bully. A track would start and I would think I wasn’t going to like it, then the track would do the old switcheroo into something beautiful. Other times there would be an absolutely haunting song that would transform into a jazz horror show. Still not sure about it.

Sort of nice, but not great. I made the mistake of listening to the first couple of songs, then putting on a Judee Sill track - the difference in quality and class was so massive, I couldn't go back. Sorry Susanne - "don't call us, we'll call you".

Intricate, haunting and melodic. Peaceful in a certain way, morbid in others. I can't quite put my finger on how I feel when I listened. Interesting and challenging for sure.

Couple of really good songs on here - Undercover really stood out.

Earnest to a fault. A little too much so, but has moments where it reminds me of bjork or enjya. Not bad.

Soothing Folky Lullaby kinda sound. Nice for the right time & place, but made for poor working music

Elegant and artful (some nice oboe playing and a few moments of gorgeous singing) but a bit indulgent to one's ears (big pop star wanting to push boundaries, maybe) and not exactly exuding soulfulness. Still, feels generally positive to be introduced to this artist. Don't think she should nudge Joanna Newsom, say, and certainly not Janelle Monae, off the list proper, though perhaps replacing Dagmar Krause or Ute Lemper would be net positive.

Moving, but almost too slow

Ok, this is just not my thing.

It’s fine. Very mellow.

Música tranquila, reposada, nostálgica, con buena voz femenina, perfecta para estar en situación relajada y con buen ambiente. No tiene ningún aliciente especial que destaque ni ningún tema especial, pero se escucha con facilidad

Chamber folk. Relajante. Ni fu ni fa.

This was already going to be an uphill battle as I’m not usually one for slower singer-songwriter efforts, but Sundfør’s predilection for sub-60 BPM tracks across the entire LP made this one a slog. Next to no rhythmic or dynamic contrast, cloying lyrics, and straight love songs across the board meant this was well outside my wheelhouse and honestly kind of annoying. Susanne may have a killer voice, but 45 minutes of boomerish whining about how nO oNe BeLiEveS iN lOvE AnYmoRe would be a tough sell even if it was coming from a choir of angels.

This feels like a lot of the modern pop music that I’ve been forced to listen by my SO however this one is a bit less up beat and more melodramatic. Something about foreign artists that have good vocals that really enjoy having a melancholy style of music. I’d be more inclined to listen to Benee or some other pop artists than this album. It wasn’t terrible, but it’s just not my taste. 5.3/10

She can sing, but these songs do nothing for me. I can see why others would like it, but thisbkind of music just makes me very sleepy.

Music For People In Trouble. Bit dull. Nice voice, sound is pretty in small doses but quickly becomes dreary and boring. The second half of The Sound of War is more interesting than most songs and Mountaineers is a fine finisher, if more were like it I'd give it a 3 but they weren't, so it's a 2.

I think I'm a person in trouble (always). After listening to this album, I'm in trouble but also sad and discouraged. Nice voice, though.

I just couldn’t get into this one at all.

Two and a half? It’s not really offensive. But I don’t much care for it.

I remember Susanne Sundfør being very popular when I was in high school. I didn’t get it back then, and I really haven’t been thinking about her since then. Turns out I still don’t get the hype. It’s pretty, but also pretty boring.

A good contemporary pick, as there was a time not long ago where Susanne Sundfør was all the rage. Unfortunately, I found this album particularly boring - nothing much more to say.

I feel like it ever quite made it where it was going. Kinda boring. Favorite songs: Reincarnation, The Sound of War, Undercover Least favorite songs: Music for People in Trouble, The Golden Age 2/5

Fully prepared to DNF and give it a slating as "Reincarnation" sounds like county music, and that's not OK. I skipped reincarnation after an interminably long time, and so far the album hasn't been country again, which is I guess in it's favour. Undercover is also kinda county, so unfortunately the album gets dings for that. Repeated country-ism suggests that it was done intentionally, as if country was something people might actually want to hear. It also gets dings for being dull. I am unmoved by its sustain-pedal sentimentality.

Some of it was decent. There were parts that were super weird. Not sure why someone would want to add this, I will round down.

Non eventful