Norwegian songstress, Ane Brun, talks about her musical evolution, touring with Peter Gabriel, and her neat little recording studio on the ocean...
How important was your
decision to go out alone, and not down the major label route?
I
have been independent since the beginning, and was lucky, as I found
a manager from the start, started my label, and it’s really been
the best choice, especially when you look at what a chaotic time it’s
been these past few years in the music business. I feel like I’ve
been on this little island on my own, just kind of floating through
the chaos, you know? I’ve built my own fanbase, and throughout my
career it’s always just been a case of building everything up
myself. And through the chaos, we’ve always found ways to make it
work.
And your record, Songs,
celebrates that...
Yeah,
Songs is
your typical anthology type thing; 32 songs from the last 10 years in
my career. We also did something called Rarities,
which is also a collection of songs, but it’s a bit different, as
it’s a lot of previously unreleased material. So basically, we
released two double albums last year, which is crazy!
You’ve done a lot of work
with Peter Gabriel...
Yeah,
I’ve done three tours with Peter, and I also sung on his album, New
Blood. That was
2010-11, but I actually met Peter in 2005 when I was playing at a
huge festival - a Mandella foundation concert, with a lot of stars.
He came up to me after my little set and said he liked what he heard,
and then it took five years for him to contact me! [laughs] I got an
email from his main technician in 2010, and he asked me to come on
tour. They’d remembered me from 2005, and were looking for an extra
singer; they looked at what I’d done since then, and a week after
the call, I was in England doing rehearsals. It’s amazing,
really...
You’re quite adept at
recording too, right?
Yeah, I can record my own solo
stuff on Logic or Pro Tools – simple productions at my own studio,
basically; and a lot of the recordings from the Rarities
album are my own.
I have a set of Genelec 8030s in my studio, which I’ve had for
years; I love them, and I never thought I’d need anything else, but
this year, I added the 7050 sub to my setup, and it’s now even
better, as many of my productions are much larger feeling, and it’s
kind of given me a bigger picture, I guess.
Tell me about your cabin by
the sea...
[smiles] Well, I am building a cabin by the ocean
in Norway, where I’m going to be writing a lot of music. I’ve got
a pair of Genelec 8010s, which are nice and compact, and they will be
coming with me! I bring them anywhere when I want to work, basically,
as it’s easy for me to just connect them to my Apogee Duet, and
they sound great. They’re in a little bag, which is perfect, as I
travel so much, and I really like the sound. With Genelec, you always
get a big sound in a small shell, I find. I mean, I also use the
8030s from my studio as rehearsal speakers if I don’t want to go
into a rehearsal studio. I just plug them into my mixing board, and
they work fantastically. They’re powerful enough, and I feel like
they generate a sound that is very familiar to me – a very natural
and honest sound, which I’ve become accustomed to over the years.
That’s important as
an artist.
How do you think our industry
sits now, compared to 10 years ago?
Well, the small labels
aren’t making much money, and nor are the artists. For me, 2005-6
was the peak for an indie label, as we had the Internet at the same
time as we had CDs, and I sold a lot of CDs at that time, and made a
lot of money for my albums and tours. We had the exposure to the
Internet, so it was easy to get out there... But we also made money!
Now, there’s no money anywhere, so we are back to knocking on big
labels’ doors. Streaming and touring income is low for new artists;
at the beginning of your career, even if you’re playing at a big
festival, you won’t get a big fee. It’s not like it was, because
you don’t sell CDs anymore. Honestly, I don’t understand how they
do it today, but I do know that there’s a lot of good music out
there, and through the Internet, be it Instagram, videos, social
media... You’ve got to use it all.