Album Review: How Beauty Holds the Hand of Sorrow by Ane Brun

While After The Great Storm saw Brun reveal an emphatic and upbeat sound, this latest offering does something of the opposite, catching her in a more sombre, reflective mood. The former was written with modern compatriots such as Anderson Paak in mind, but, as Brun confirms, How Beauty Holds was inspired by something more sedate - material Brun listens to while "winding down, such as Sufjan Stevens or Nils Frahm s." On How Beauty Holds, the percussion throughout is sparse, with delicately plucked guitar and the kind of graceful piano playing that Brun has capitalised on previously embraced to the fullest. Both the haunting "Closer" and the Dustin O'Halloran collaboration "Lose My Way" attest to this perfectly.

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