Ane Brun: New Album 'Leave Me Breathless' Out Today

Sweden-based Norwegian artist Ane Brun's seventh studio album, Leave Me Breathless, is available worldwide on her own imprint Balloon Ranger Records today. Brun reinterprets fourteen versions of classic hits from an array of artists including Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave, Foreigner, Bob Dylan, Sade and Mariah Carey, among others. Today, Popmatters premieres the her version of the Foreigner classic "I Wanna Know What Love Is," describing "Brun elevates the song by focusing on the emotions and supplying a clean and lean arrangement." Read the feature HERE, share the video HERE.

Last December, she performed Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" at the Nobel Prize in Literature ceremony?. Watch her performance HERE and listen to her version on the album HERE.

"I first performed this to celebrate Bob Dylan at the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016," says Brun of the impetus for including "Make You Feel My Love" on the album. "I decided to cover it a couple of years back when I wanted to record a Dylan love song for someone I was head over heels in love with. I had not realized that Adele had done her version, I only remembered it from the 90s, when I listened quite a lot to the Dylan album Time Out of Mind (1997). I adore the lyrics and the melody of this song. I find it a bit hard to make interesting covers of Dylan, since I believe the songs are so connected to his particular voice and expression, but I couldn't leave this beautiful love song alone."

Brun is no stranger to reinventing other artists' work. Earlier this year, at Sweden's Polar Music Prize, she performed Sting's "Why Should I Cry For You?" in front of The Police frontman himself. Fans are familiar with her habit of slipping other artists' music into her live sets, and her releases are sprinkled with cover versions, from Beyoncé's "Halo" to Arcade Fire's "Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)".

Brun confides, "The whole project started with me falling head over heels for someone new. I recorded cover songs for this person because, quite simply, I was overwhelmed by emotions. The love story was short, but when it ended I continued the project. The original idea had been to interpret love songs, romantic songs but, in the end, there are a few with other themes as well."

The album's earliest songs were taped alone at home with just a guitar and single microphone, Brun later brought in Anton Sundell (an up and coming producer/technician and long-time road crew member) and Johan Lindström (Tonbruket) to join forces and helped her develop the record's sound. Martin Hederos (Tonbrucket, Soundtrack Of Our Lives) also assisted with the arrangements. Some work was done at Bruket, Tonbruket's studio, and at Gig Studio, while two more tracks, as well as strings, were recorded at Stockholm's Atlantis Studios?the album was mixed. Further recordings took place at Stockholm's Riksmixningsverket, owned by ABBA's Benny Andersson. His Yamaha GX-1-the legendary "dream machine" heard, for instance, on "Does Your Mother Know"-appears on Brun's interpretation of Carey's Hero.

Brun has recorded and released eleven albums over the last twelve years on her own imprint Balloon Ranger Recordings. In 2005, her second album A Temporary Dive earned her critical acclaim at home and abroad, winning the Norwegian Grammy for Best Female Artist. Her fifth album, Changing Of The Seasons, was recorded in Iceland by Valgier Sigursson. The New York Times said the album "offers the kind of comfort that only well-versed singer-songwriters can give. An album full of sad songs to revel in as the days grow shorter and colder, Seasons is Brun's strongest work yet." Brun released It all Starts With One in 2011 and Rolling Stonecalled the lead track "Do You Remember" a "knockout single." It was followed by the collections Songs 2003-2013, which celebrated Brun's most beloved tracks and songwriting achievements and Rarities (2013), which navigated the lesser-known corners of her catalog. In 2016, Brun released When I'm Free which NPR's All Things Considered" called "best record yet...her most sonically ambitious..."

Leave Me Breathless

"I Wanna Know What Love Is"-original recording by Foreigner

"Always On My Mind"-original recording by Elvis Presley

"Unchained Melody"-original recording by The Righteous Brothers

"Hero"-original recording by Mariah Carey

"Show Me Heaven"-original recording by Mariah McKee

"Into My Arms"-original recording by Nick Cave

"Stay"-original recording by Shakespears Sister

"How To Disappear Completely"-original recording by Radiohead

"By Your Side"-original recording by Sade

"Girl from the North Country"-original recording by Bob Dylan

"No Reason To Cry"?original recording by Tom Petty

"Right in Time"-original recording by Lucinda Williams

"Make You Feel my Love"-original recording by Bob Dylan

"Big Yellow Taxi"-original recording by Joni Mitchell

Photo Credit: Ane Brun