Malin Pettersen Wildflower
Wildflowers, it turns out, are funny things. Most would say they’re bound to a region. But must they be native? Or can they have been introduced? It’s the way the defining feature signals the absence of human intervention. And yet, there’s a packet of seed from the dollar store labeled wildflowers on the windowsill.
On Wildflower, Malin Pettersen stakes a claim. “A wildflower is one no matter where it might grow,” she sings in the title track. Of course Pettersen is not talking only about wildflowers in this study of how people bloom together in love. But on this latest album, the Nordicana artist extends a vital question. What does it mean to be rooted and to flower in a place, if wind or dreams, birds or longing, can carry seeds far away?
From the first note to the last, Pettersen and her band reach wide. Joining Pettersen are Nikolai Grasaasen, Øyvind Blonstrøm, Stian Jørgen Sveen, and Sigmund Vestrheim. Together, they hold their arms out to catch the varieties of Americana. There’s “Fool,” a 6/8 ballad that could soundtrack a 1950s high-school dance. There’s “Baptize Me,” a song that revels in the swampiness of heavy tremolo. And then there’s “Fold Out Chair,” a song about singing and songwriting itself.
These historical influences run through Wildflower with its sparse and exacting lyrics. But Pettersen and her band have coated them in the lustre of early-millenium pop singer-songwriters.
And it’s a good thing they have.
On “Cargo” this sensibility peaks. The choral refrain builds as Pettersen sings, “I hear your breath, and there’s a lifeline in the cold. You see the truth in all my pain as I unfold . . . .” Then, as if on Pettersen’s cue, the song unfolds into the wide-open spaces woven by Vestrheim’s crisp drums, Pettersen’s airy vocals, Blomstrøm’s earthen foundation, and Sveen and Grasaasen’s atmospheric turns.
It’s a breath of fresh meadow air. And in Wildflower, Pettersen has given listeners every chance to be moved with the kind of art that flowers beyond the borders of strict fidelity to definition, whether musical or horticultural.
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Wildflower is out now from Die With Your Boots On records. Grab your copy here!
Malin Pettersen wrote and produced all songs on Wildflower, which was recorded and engineered by Bård Ingebrigtsen and Tomas Pettersen at Amper Tone, mixed by Bård Ingebrigtsen, and mastered by Christian Obermayer at Strype Audio.
Alongside Malin Pettersen, who sang and played acoustic guitar, Øyvind Blomstrøm played electric bass and guitars, Nikolai Grasaasen played guitars and keyboards, Stian Jørgen Sveen played steel and guitars, and Sigmund Vestrheim played drums.
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Interview: Malin Pettersen Talks About Songwriting, American Music, And Her New Album “Wildhorse”
