Ellen Sofie Hovland - ELLEN SOFIE HOVLAND EXPLORES PASSION’S POSITION IN THE MIDLIFE PHASE

New album: “Hva med det i midten?” [What about that

in the middle?], to be released on 1 November

Her three previous albums were all nominated for the

Spellemann prize (Norwegian Grammy award), and one year

she also won the trophy. Now comes Ellen Sofie Hovland’s

fourth album. This time she pokes around in midlife’s romantic

yearnings and challenges the blur of everyday life.

“It’s easy to sing your heart out about the big waves in life,

about falling in love and breaking up, about riding the crests

of our successes and the lows of our disappointments,”

Ellen Sofie says, and asks “But what about the long

stretches in the middle where you do your best just to stay

afloat, but where the high drama is absent?”

Her good musical companions and close collaboration partners

are Johannes Martens (cello), Roger Arntzen (double bass),

Knut Reiersrud (guitars) and Erik Hillestad (production and

mixing). She has written all the brand new songs and sings and 

plays acoustic guitar on the album. The arrangements have

been created together with her companion musicians, who also

often accompany her on tour and at various concerts.

Even if the album she has now made pokes fun at the many

trivialities of the middle years of life, it is bubbling with

bittersweet passion, witty self-irony and a good portion of

poetic and melodious vitality. It is released by KKV, which has

also released her other three albums.

The album deals with intertwining emotions in a life replete

with obligations and commitments: childish longing,

temptations, stress, the urge to be free, and acknowledgement

of the nuances in our lives and that we never really get things

completely right. And not least, the songs are about deep and

enduring love.