GREAT SELF-CONFIDENCE: "I think the album is perfect. It has the right orchestration and the production goes well with my voice." said Sissel Kyrkjebø about "All Good Things" which will be in Norwegian record stores on Monday.

"Very Me, Very Now"

For six years, Denmark's best-singing housewife has been a sponge that has absorbed into itself all impressions. Monday comes the solo album "All Good Things," and Sissel is hungry for success again. Just not at any price.

By PAAL KVAMME, translated from Norwegian by ROBERT A JONES
RUNE SÆVIG (foto)

"If I achieve success, I'll be very happy about it. But that others will like the album just because I did it isn't automatic," smiled Sissel confidently.
And she has every right to smile. Over six years have passed since Sissel released her last solo album. Now she's ready again.

At just the right time, she received help from a bunch of the country's biggest artists. Lene Marlin has written "Should It Matter" and "We Both Know," Morten Abel is behind the title track, the boys at Stargate Studios have written "One Day," while Espen Lind has penned (and sings on) "Where The Lost Ones Go."

"For me this is first and foremost a pop album full of atmosphere. A very personal album, since I've been involved in so much of the process."
More than before?
"Yes. I've also been writing some of the songs, so it's like a completely different involvement. I think the album is fantastic, beautiful. But that is, of course, just my word," said Sissel, who doesn't have any ambitions to become an exceptional songwriter.

Not Twiddling Her Thumbs
She absolutely hasn't been without work. In addition to being Denmark's best-singing Mum, she's also been on the soundtrack of "Titanic." She's worked with the rapper Warren G on "Prince Igor." She opened the Lillehammer Olympics, worked with The Chieftains, and she was on the album "Christmas in Vienna 3" with Placido Domingo and Charles Aznavour. These six years have also resulted in Ingrid (4 1/2) and Sara (15 months).
"I've had the opportunity to learn from others, and not the least to learn a little bit about myself. And to learn what I want musically."
And that is?
"All Good Things," Sissel said before standing up and shutting the banging door to the veranda at Hotel Norge.

Momentous Pop Music
On the new album, this mother of two small children comes forth with music which is in vogue, electronic rhythms and careful loops, with the producer of Lene Marlin's album, Jørn Dahl and the much more famous Stargate team behind her.
"I often feel like a sponge, which just sucks up all the impressions I receive. There have been some fantastic and exciting things happening in pop music these past few years, and I've allowed myself to be inspired by that," said the Bergen girl. "For me it is natural to release a pop album with this sound. For this album is very me, very now."

The Album Which Never Came
Of course, "All Good Things" is not the first solo album since 1994. After "Innerst i sjelen," Sissel went to America to record a new album. Time went and the taxi meter also, but the album never appeared. In the end, the entire project was trashed, after paying the bills to the tune of six million Norwegian crowns ($650,000 US).

"I was very disappointed that it ended such. It was frustrating, but I don't feel that everything was a waste. And it was me myself who chose to do that."
What was it that was so wrong with the album?
"I grew apart from the whole thing, felt that the result wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't quite me. But this album has become entirely me," said Sissel.
But you threw several million crowns out the window?
"I don't feel that way. I have learned a lot, and this album couldn't have come to be without what happened in America. But we bet on the wrong horse, and that happens. It happens to everyone at least once in their lives, but with a different circumstance.
How finished was that album?
"Completely finished."
You have it at home?
"Yes, but some of the songs I'm saving anyway. The first track on "All Good Things" is from these recordings."

Enough Songs for a New Album
This time it's gone faster. The work on "All Good Things" began in February.
With Lene Marlin, Stargate, Espen Lind and Morten Abel, it seems as though you're ready to conquer the hit lists again?
"I don't think about such. It's more that these represent something of quality, something I have a great desire to be involved with."
It is a relatively involved production on "All Good Things," do you believe it needs it?
"One could certainly have created an album with only drums and bass, but the question then is if it had been very interesting. I think the album is perfect. It has the right orchestration and the production goes well with my voice."
Nearly forty songs were recorded, of these eleven ended up on the album. Sissel points out that it is quite possible that a new album could come from these recordings.

One Song in Norwegian
One of the songs on "All Good Things" stands out because it is in the Norwegian language. Sissel was only supposed to be testing a microphone, when the producer Jørn Dahl sat down at the piano and asked if she knew the familiar Norwegian hymn "Lær meg å kjenne" (Teach Me To Know).
"It was one of those magical moments which luckily was recorded. The lyrics were written at the beginning of the 20th Century. There was a priest who came home after traveling. When he arrived, he found his house in ruins and his entire family killed in a fire. Then he wrote this hymn," Sissel said.

Hungry for Success, But...
If Sissel is still hungry for success, it's not at any price.
"It's nice to have success. But I'm not hungry for it, such that I feel "now I MUST have an international career. It would be quite fun if it happened, but at the same time that requires a great deal of time, energy and planning."
Are you more ready now than before?
"Yes. I've had more experiences, more calm. These six years I've stored up energy and desire to try."
For the time being, the album is being released only in Norway.
What exactly is it you want to do with your career?
"I want to live for it, as long as I can. The most important thing for me is to have challenges. Either that I create them myself, or that I meet people who challenge me. As an artist, it's most important to stand behind what you do. And it's important to be able to combine career and family.
Have your ambitions changed since you became a mother?
"I don't believe so. Everything that's happened to me in the past few years have been completely natural. I take things as they come - at the same time I try and think a bit ahead. I would like to enjoy things as they are now."
Did you make the most of the potential to be known from "Prince Igor" and "Titanic"?
"To take maximum advantage of those kinds of opportunities one must come out with one's own album at the same time. But to be involved with those two albums was a big feather in my hat."
What do you listen to when you run around with the vacuum at home?
"Now I'm listening to Craig David a lot. He has released a fantastic album."
Do you listen to the old Sissel albums once in a while?
"No. Never."
Why not?
"I don't have any desire to."

Better voice
"With time my voice has become more warm and rounded. It has more volume, become bigger. And that's what one would want," said the Copenhagen housewife.
"This is an album I couldn't have created two, three or five years ago."
How would you want us to interpret Sissel anno 2000?
"That I don't know. That I am just someone who is herself," said Sissel. "But now I am more concerned with how I look. That's how it is with most girls around thirty."