Love Songs from the Mountains of Southern France
Stunning nature and deep feelings. That's what inspired Pernilla Aidt when she composed the music for her debut album, 'Serene'. It was to be personal and honest.
She's Danish, and has made her living from singing since she was 19. But she's lived in France since 1985, and developed her career there, so only a few of her fellow countrymen have ever heard her voice.
Pernilla has been singing a Broadway repertoire in casinos, in castles and in the big hotels along the French Riviera, and she has sung jazz in piano bars like the Printemps de Bourges in Paris, and at the Jazz Festival of Nice. In 1998, she released a CD with jazz standards, and was elected "Jazz Artist of the Year" by the French CD-shopping chain FNAC.
Today Pernilla has left city-life behind and lives in the Alpes de Haute Provence in the South West of France, where she's completely surrounded by nature in a Swiss alpine cottage, right on the beautiful banks of a mountain lake. Her feelings about nature are expressed very strongly in her songs. Pernilla paints musical pictures of the sea, of the sun, the rain in spring, and of a wistful longing, in all the colours of the rainbow.
She lets dreams flow with the laughter of children and seeks an expression which is vulnerable and intimate, but also poetically moving and compelling.
Guest musicians on the album are, among others Kasper Tranberg (trumpet), Jacob Andersen (percussion), Ilya Magnes (flute & djembe drum), and Simon Lynge (guitar and vocal). The music is produced by Klaus Bau Jensen (known from Bliss and Flipside) and Sebastian Lilja (Flipside).
Pernilla Aidt has the background originally of a classical singer but, later, in order to dig deeper into the universe of jazz, she did a four year study course at Berklee College of Music in the USA. However, when she started to write her own music, she created something that was neither classical nor jazz, but perhaps someplace in between -- her own personal mix, which might maybe best be described as "ambient pop with a touch of jazz and classical".
* Also, see www.pernilla.dk
* 'Serene' was released in Denmark on October 6, 2003.
* Reviews:
http://mildrecords.com/2003/serene/review_uk01.html
* Cover notes:
Vocals, piano, lyrics and music by Pernilla Aidt*
Produced, mixed and mastered by Klaus Bau Jensen and Sebastian Lilja at Realtime Studio in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 2003
* Except Sea Meets Sky: vocals and music by Pernilla Aidt and Simon Lynge
Percussion: Jacob Andersen
Trumpet on Hear My Song, Evident Like Breathing, Northern Star, Open Sea and Hear His Song: Kasper Tranberg
Guitar on Northern Star, and bass on Letter To You, Rush Of Rain, Northern Star, Open Sea and Sea Meets Sky: Sebastian Lilja
Guitar, piano, mouth perc, cake tin and voice on Sea Meets Sky: Simon Lynge
Djembe drum and flute on Open Sea: Ilya Magnes
Cello on Northern Star: Finn Aidt
Guitar on L'Aube, piano on L'Aube and Rush Of Rain, and executive producer: Mik Aidt
Eskimo voice on Sea Meets Sky from 'Traditional Greenlandic Music' (ULO CD-75)
Tabla drum on Hear My Song from 'The Other World Ethnic Sample Collection'.
Photos from Les Alpes de Haute Provence and layout by Mik Aidt
Portraits of Pernilla in booklet photographed by Linda Horowitz
Supported by KODA
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