inga liljestrom's ELK in full band mode are (in EUROPE) Jean-Philippe Feiss- cello; Theo Girard- Double bass; Guillaume Magne- guitar; Sebastien Brun- drums; Patrick Moriceau- keyboards and samples.
In Australia her band are Cameron Undy(20th century dog, kidzen)- double bass and samples; Evan Mannell(aronas)- drums; Veronique Serret(ACO, SSO and is amazing!)- violin;Clare Brassill- cello; Sloth( meta bass'n' breath)- trumpet and sound effects; Haydn Walker(co-arranger of strings on ELK) - guitar. guests include Heidi Elva- harp; the coda strings; Michael Lira (darth vegas, vicious hairy mary) on guitar; Michael Iveson(lior) and Dave Goodman on drums to name but a few.
stripped back inga has performed with just double bass and violin, or cello and violin.
NOW AVAILABLE NEW 'RADJUR' DVD COLLECTION INGA LILJESTROM's "RADJUR" [Wild Deer] The long awaited DVD collection from Inga Liljestrom. Includes 10 lush + filmic screen interpretations of Inga classics by Australian filmmakers, plus live footage, photo album + exclusive intimate peformances in hand-crafted, ltd edition packaging, for short time only.
ALSO AVAILABLE NOW INGA LILJESTROM's "ELK" The album that sat in the Indie Top 10 for a year and drew comparisons to everyone from Bjork and Portisheadto Marianne Faithfull and Martina Topley-Bird. "21st Century Film-Noir for the ears" [Radio National] Includes PHOENIX and ALL OF THIS singles.
LTD EDITION COLLECTION: INGA LILJESTROM's "SprawlingFawns" Ltd edition hand packaged collection of tracks (inc. Some Velvet Morning w/Crow's Peter Fenton & High Flying Birds w/Bob Scott) + remixes from Inga Liljestrom's Elk LP by Ben Frost, Pimmon, Saddleback, Lake Lustre, Purdy, Jacob Cook+ more.
Influences
FOR A LTD TIME: 1998's "Urchin" by INGA LILJESTROM. A limited number of this must-have collectable, Urchin was Inga Liljestrom's very first LP, recorded back in the late '90s. Featuring the gorgeous tracks 'Coma' and 'Marmalade' - which early fans will remember doing the rounds as remixes by a young Friendly and Ali Omar (Atone) respectively - it also features an early version of 'The Drowning Song'which Inga has been performing live again lately, accompanied by a toy piano. 12 tracks to pull you under "hook line and sinker". SORRY - URCHIN HAS SOLD-OUT!
RE-PRESS COMING SOON
Sounds Like
**REVIEWS FOR ELK** 4 and half stars- album of the week "the debut album from Inga Liljestrom is set to blow a lot of people away; dripping in emotion it is nothing short of magic...
Phoenix is the stand out track; imagine being tossed around by a storm of strings, bass and drums, all held together by a voice that expresses so much with so little effort. Inga's voice is a fresh sound that is crying to be heard; this album will not disappoint." [the brag mag).
4 Stars "Inga Liljestrom's voice tickles angels' ears...Whether it's flirting with string crescendos that bound over the subtlest electronic programming (Film Noir) or delivering haunted folk over lonely guitar (All Of This), her sultry voice of yesteryear is the mesmerising centerpiece. It slides from dark grooves to delicate whispers, turning simple poetry into the ultimate dark romantic soundtrack. From the subtle manipulation of Knotted to the delayed echoes of Lira, this jazz-trained Sydney singer raises gooseflesh." (Metro Sydney Morning Herald)
Highly Recomended "Drenched in a narcotic otherworldliness, it's as much an interior journey to the deepest extremes of Inga's musical well - a sort of seductive one-on-one with an inspired mind ... the 12 songs are like weather stations in a sea of emotion, to chart a course thru shifting moods and dreamscapes. That unique voice of Liljestrom is what brings it all together. Blessed with a fragile/strong feel that can whisper intimacies even when filling the soundscape with primal cries, it's a voice that focuses listeners and draws them in...has something sensual and artistic all of her own. Highly recommended. (Drum Media Magazine)
"Brilliant composing, unbelievable string arrangements...Inga's emotional voice shines on the new movie-like album Elk..."[From Finland's Trip 404]
for more reviews, go to www.ingaliljestrom.com
INGA T-SHIRTS
"LUPE & BEATRICE: Featuring an original design by Inga, these ltd edition T's and singlets can only be bought on-line or at Inga shows. Entitled "Lupe and Beatrice" the design was first drawn by Inga when she was only 6 years old, and was screen printed by artist Jan Paul on to t-shirts for her family and friends at that time. Now, many (many!) years later, it seemed apt that it become the first Inga T-shirt available to fans, newly re-designed by Jan Paul. To see a close-up of design, check available sizes/colours, or to purchase one CLICK HERE
Slowly surfacing video by Shahane Bekarian- 1st prize at Great Lakes Film Fest
All of This video by Andrew Wholley- redrug
Film Noir video by Jake Simkin
29 Poisons video produced by 76 Pictures and directed by Owen Elliott.
Inga Liljestrom is a sydney and paris based singer/ composer whose voice has graced the recordings of the church, gerling, hi- fi mike, carmen rizzo) grammy nominated producer of many wonderful artists), marc collin(nouvelle vague) and more.
Her first commercially released album 'ELK' has received much acclaim, and features her skills of composing, arranging, as well as her mesmerising and distinctive vocals.
The album is beautifully cohesive, yet darkly fragile, with her otherworldly quality reaching new heights with stunning vocal images. She weaves strange and mysterious tales, set against a sea of strings and beats.
One minute she has you hanging over a mediterranean edge in a sportscar where the motor is still purring with electronic beats, while the next you are shivering between towering icicles as the harmonics of orchestrated strings seem to threaten an emotional avalanche.
She has performed continuously sold out shows at the studio sydney opera house, @newtown, sydney and adelaide festivals, new caledonia festival, peats ridge, cockatoo island, bellingen global festival, the vanguard, and supported international acts francoiz breut (france) ursula rucker (USA), kosheen(UK), nouvelle vague(france), sang with australian group iconic group'the church' and appeared along side Goldfrapp, Sinead Oconnor and more at the Czech republic 'colors of ostrava' festival.
She has composed music for film and animations, and songs from her album Elk are featured on the film 'LEFT EAR' by redrug productions to be released later this year. She also recently collaborated with Decoder Ring on short film 'YOLK' which screened at the Sydney film festival, and also composed music for soon to be released feature film, 'BRAILLE'.
'Urchin', her first solo album,described as '...dry as the breaking of insect wings...'(peter miller- sound designer for feature films 'The Ring', 'In the Cut') is available through her website www.ingaliljestrom.com (reviews also available).
Inga is working on a new album for release soonish, along with a release of at least 9 video clips made by Australian film makers. she has also released a remix album 'sprawling fauns', featuring remixes by lake lustre, ben frost, pimmon, saddleback, kevin purdy(tooth), available only thru her site and her labels- www.groovescooter.com and also an improvised album for oct 2006 'quiet music for quiet people' thru vitamin records.
Having just finished a tour in Brasil, South America, Czech Republic and Paris...needs more! She needs help releasing her music throughout Europe - so if you are a record company or booker in EUrope who would like to help, please contact her here!!
LIVE REVIEW- hopetoun hotel, Sydney.
On stage with two cello players, a toy piano and a telephone receiver. Oh, heaven! She really can do no wrong... this double cello set up was spectacular! Inspired... I was blown away. It was a kinda performance that leaves a crowd speechless, breathless. Her exquisite vocals, cellos expertly plucked and bowed, the intricate songs, everyone in the room could feel that this was something extraordinary.[tinyman.blogspot.com]
LIVE REVIEW- At Vanguard. 1st July 2007.
Perhaps it was her lush jazz-tinged voice that did it, as it swirled daintily amongst the chord of a double bass. Perhaps it was her mystique of her songs, flowing from her body with the aches and sighs of an impassioned woman.
More an aural soundscape that a standard pop singer, she constructs songs of light and shadow; of mystery and revelation. “Tori Amos meets Emily the Strange” summed up my concert-going companion, aptly.
Playing songs from her small but satisfying collection of albums, she showed her musical diversity: bringing out a ukulele one moment, and frequently – and somewhat inexplicably – singing into a large red telephone. While Liljestrom writes poetically and evocatively, it was ultimately her voice – especially in the intimate live setting of the Vanguard – that captivated. From a throaty growl, her jazz vibrato crawled upwards and ultimately shimmered into the air with a whisper. A whisp of black smoke perhaps, seen and then gone.
While it would be fantastic to see Inga Liljestrom eventually gain the wider recognition she deserves, there is something magical about seeing her in these intimate settings. The Newtown-going crowd certainly agreed, eventually filling every available seat and standing room, begging for an encore – yearning for just that tiny bit more. Yearning for that final taste of our desire-inducing little secret.samesame.com.au
LIVE REVIEW- 505. surry hills, sydney.
"There are many whispers and a sense of anticipation as Inga Liljestrom's band - the guitarist, double bass player, violinist, cello player and the effects and soundscape DJ take the stage.
Inga appears barefooted, wearing a hippyish style sparkly red dress and half of her long wavy hair tied into a small bun. The double bass solely begins playing, and Inga starts weaving her magic, confidently beginning their performance tonight by singing All of This.
By midway through the first song, I know that this is going to be one of the best performances I have ever seen in my life. I try to hold back tears of overwhelming joy as Inga begins exquisitely and softly moving about on stage. Her graceful body and celestial voice weave in and out of the music, she uses her delicate hands to express the dynamics of her voice, and she is completely at one with her fellow, extremely talented and illuminating band members.
It is an amazing sight to behold such a passionate and elegant lady, so entranced, and moved by her band's brilliantly composed sounds. Amongst the array of songs Inga perform tonight include Phoenix, Glow, Stardust, 29 Poisons, Bullet and Deer.
Each song is as brilliantly executed as the next, the alluring melodies flowing and cascading down onto and amongst each other, as if each rhythm, melody, lyric and soundscape is all the ingredients of a hypnotising potion, gradually filling up and up until it beings flowing over the edges whilst Inga's seductive and enchanting vocals literally soar vocally and emotionally to places I have never experienced via music before.
I really never want this show to end, and for the first time I take my eyes away from Inga and her band to witness the audience's reaction and response, and I can see every single eye completely in awe, transfixed by the divine beauty occurring before us all.
Sadly, the show has to end and a distinct feeling of pleasure, privilege and pure delight of being able to experience something as special, rare and magical as this show manifests in the room." [tania.g. anderson- FasterLouder.com.au]
LIVE REVIEW- the Studio/Opera House with Ursula Rucker(USA)
Opening with a solo, slow and mournfully wailing electric guitar against her unique voice, it shut the crowd up quick smart. A mesmerizing performance..she casts a spell that is powerfully enchanting...Playing at a space like the Studio with a projector screen behind the stage displaying some new gothic/film noir footage is just about the perfect way to experience this.
The easiest/laziest comparison to make for the sound of Inga Liljestrom would be the sound of Lamb when they are at their most emotionally intense, lots of strings and not much electronics, a strong focus on the vocals. The music may build up to a giant wall of noise, but it's never fast or with an electronic beat like a trip-hop/dance cross-over some may describe Lamb to be.
Left the crowd gobsmacked...Inga Liljestrom stole the show.
The best thing I had seen all year.[tinyman.blogspot.com]
LIVE REVIEW-annandale hotel, Sydney
Inga went acoustic for the set accompanied by two cellists and a percussionist (who alternated between using a snare and a strange kind of home-made-looking contraption which he sat on and thumped with his hands, producing differing sounds depending on where he hit it), immediately sliding into a gorgeous rendition of Bullet, Inga's signature soulful, airy alto wafting through the musical arrangement like incense.
Several unusual instruments made their debut; of particular interest was the telephone mic, a bright red 1950's model. It produces a distant, distorted vocal, and appeared in several tracks, including the gorgeous, shiver-inducing Knotted.
Another highlight was Inga's use of a tiny toy piano; surprisingly effective on the eerie Drowning Song. The lush, deep cellos on single Phoenix were transcendental. Inga closed (far too early, in my opinion) with a cover of Nina Simone's Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair stripped back, heart worn-on-sleeve. I'm sorry, Ms. Liljestrom, I'll go see you anywhere. Even if you hold a gig in a carpark. And, by the looks of things, I wouldn't be alone." [FasterLouder.com.au]
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT- Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
XVII (I do not love you...) by Pablo Neruda
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I do not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
A Case of You- by Joni Mitchell
Just before our love got lost you said,
"I am as constant as a northern star."
And I said, "Constantly in the darkness,
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar."
On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet
Oh I would still be on my feet
Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid
I remember that time you told me, you said,
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you, darling
Still, I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said,
"Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed"
Oh but you are in my blood
You're my holy wine
You taste so bitter, bitter and so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet
Inga love.. My darling..how are you..dead of winter here and pretty cold too..is it like that there..my health is better and feeling like more myself..yeh.... Havnt tracked down Imi yet,due to hectic work schedule..but will this week.. My beautiful dog Belle has gone almost blind after a cluster of seizures..i give her hours of dog Reiki..shes so precious
Lucas got his first job today in a candy store..hes over the moon..and i babysitted Kats little boy on Saturday..that was nice..
Just to let you know we have just added one of our new tracks to our page.Have a listen when you have time and let us know what you think! Sparkly love Madame Catastrophe xx
