Epitomising triumph over adversity, the first Our Broken Garden album since 2010 not only embarks on a newly minted sound a gloriously warm and nuanced brand of slowburning Scandinavian soul – but Danish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Brnsted has dug deep to provide an emotional tour de force that shines as a beacon of resilience, resistance and perseverance. Welcome to Blind.

Blinds musical DNA is warmer, more inviting and even poppier than previous album, The Golden Sea: Brnsted suggests that its down to Blinds backing tracks being recorded live (as opposed to Golden Seas layered production), but also that she was particularly taken with 70s singer-songwriters (she namechecks Neil Young, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell) and contemporary R&B, especially FKA Twigs. And its that intimacy, and candour, which also makes Blind sound that much warmer and inviting. Brnsteds life was on the line, and her creative response has thrown her a lifeline. As she prepares to play the first Our Broken Garden shows in ten years, the darkness of her recent past recedes further, but she is sanguine about the present.

With deep feelings of loss but also deep feelings of love, Brnsted concludes, the good thing is that I am not caught in the numbness of my safe everyday life anymore. Every day is new – which is not necessarily pleasant and without challenges. But I feel free – and one of the gifts is that I have found places that I didnt know existed in myself. And that I have found peace here until the next crisis comes around, I guess!

Tracks:

1. Prelude

2. Lost

3. Rain

4. Fallen

5. Shameless

6. Prayer

7. Waltz

8. Words

9. Sirens

10. Storm

11. Crown

12. Found

13. Lies