“No One Knows That You’re Lost is an album inspired by the Norwegian coast and a human interior, by tight itching doubts and wide open spaces. Here, fragility, strength and beauty become one and the same, parts of a landscape in constant flux yet remaining fundamentally unchanged”

Tina very kindly agreed to write a guest post for our ‘Lit Links‘ series (part of the Quiet, Constant Friends project), where artists and writers create a playlist of songs based around a book of their choice. Arm yourself with headphones and have a read below.

Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding
by Tina Refsnes

I’ve never felt comfortable with answering questions that ask for «the best» or «your all time favourite» as I just feel there’s too much good and different material in the world to hold them up against each other like that. So, I’ll say that one of my favourite books that I enjoyed immensely reading is one called The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. It’s set in an American College and with baseball as the back-drop, and it’s one of those slow books with great meaning but without the drama. It deals with the big hopes that young people usually have to life, with self doubt in performance, and with the social difficulties or shyness that young people sometimes struggle with. But, in a very down to earth way since, at least the main character, is so un-academic. I also imagined this suburban North-American setting for it: Long, wide streets with tall leaf trees on both sides of it. Really big and old campus buildings, and maybe since the characters were so alone in their minds I kept picturing everything as with never that many people around.

Tracklisting:

1. Jenny Come Home- Andy Shauf
   2. Gather, Form and Fly – Megafaun
   3. Own Side – Caitlin Rose
   4. Casimir Pulaski Day – Sufjan Stevens
   5. Easy – Laura Marling
   6. Blue Train – Emmy Lou Harris, Linds Ronstadt and Dolly Parton
   7. Out of the Woodwork – Courtney Barnett
   8. Big Black Road – Thousands
   9. That Knot Unties? – David Karsten Daniels
   10. Mr. Rodriguez – Rayland Baxter
   11. We Are Fine – Sharon Van Etten
   12. Horizons – The Staves
   13. Archie, Marry Me – Alvvays
   14. Friends – 22-20s
   15. Poison Oak – Bright Eyes

The post Lit Links: Tina Refsnes appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Opener ‘I Don’t Know’ is a perfect introduction to the album, a soothing yet energetic brand of folk which acknowledges doubt yet refuses to submit to it, playing like a perfect antidote to a bad day:

“Oh the wane can beat you down and bind you
Leave you blind to the thought
that things could ever look as bright again.
Oh but things will pick up again
I just cant tell you when
but things will pick up again soon.”

The writing is sharp and often beautiful, much of it based on past comfort and present uncertainty. ‘Upside Down Clouds’, with it’s moodier guitars and dramatic vocals, is a good example, as Refsnes pines for the simplicity and familiarity of the Florø coast (“It feels as though the shore that I know is no longer there”). ‘Alaska’ explores the double bind of being an artist, the urge to “show them some more of yourself” but all the while wanting to hide away, in this case through escape to the natural peace of the titular location: “I’ve heard that it’s so quiet there that not even the wind will talk to you”. As with any folk record, heartbreak pays a visit, with ‘Song About Trust’ detailing the disintegration of a relationship in viscerally outspoken tones (“This song’s about trust and how we must talk to our demons like strangers”), while ‘Put It Away’ stems from the doubt of past pain (“I don’t keep secrets anymore as I’ve been made to tell”) and develops into a plea with herself:

“Just don’t break my heart because I can’t break yours.
There’s a city that hold me for dead
and the voice that goes on in my head
saying you’re such a cheat your too easy to beat
put your heart away.”

The influences here are numerous and varied, knitting together to create something fresh and new. Joni Mitchell is an obvious one, but there are shades of Natalie Prass and Laura Marling and Joanna Newsom too, as well as the variation across tracks. ‘Spoilt Rotten Blues’ is a laid back country song, like some long-lost collaboration between Samantha Crain, First Aid Kit and Feist, ‘City City’ and ‘Song About Trust ‘ are slow ballads reminiscent of Sharon van Etten and ‘A Million Things’ is a gentle, evocative strum akin to something from Laura Gibson. While the style changes slightly across the record, the general ambience remains true throughout (a mood captured in the imagery of the ‘I Don’t Know’ video), giving a great sense of cohesiveness and allowing sensations and themes to develop without explicit reinforcement.

No One Knows That You’re Lost is an album inspired by the Norwegian coast and a human interior, by tight itching doubts and wide open spaces. Here, fragility, strength and beauty become one and the same, parts of a landscape in constant flux yet remaining fundamentally unchanged. Basically, it’s the sort of album we are honoured to première. Have a listen to the full album below:

No One Knows That You’re Lost is out today on Vestkyst Records, and you can buy it from all the usual places.

The post Album Première: Tina Refsnes – No One Knows That You’re Lost appeared first on Various Small Flames.