Norwegian star Solveig Slettahjell, a vocalist with an uncanny gift for singing in a luminous whisper, began shifting from moody Nordic music toward an earthier American sound five years ago, and this session, which blues guitarist and harmonica player Knut Reiersrud guests on, retains that atmosphere . It also reunites Slettahjell with Morten Qvenild, the pianist from her early Slow Motion ensembles. The result is a fascinating conjunction of Slow Motion’s attention to fine sonic detail at slow tempos and the directness of confessional classics including Trouble in Mind and Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. Slettahjell’s impeccable tone is coupled with an upfront delivery, and the interventions of her partners often have a discreetly startling audacity – like Reiersrud’s unexpected guitar slide halfway through Borrowed Time, the echoing backbeat and synth hum on Bill Withers’ Borrowed Time, and the way Qvenild’s softly-struck piano enhances the singer’s lost-soul intonation of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. Slettahjell’s performances are heartfelt throughout, but without a lapse in their telling restraint.
