“...the most enchanting music I've heard for some time” - NARC Magazine
“Her melodies sublime, her voice unique and her method mesmerising, I predict big things for her” - NARC Magazine
“Delicate, magical, heartfelt and delivered with an uncluttered naked grace” – Echoes and Dust
“ ‘Nu Vaknen och Glädjens’ with its softly unfurled monastic elegance should provide enough timeless mystery to keep the most ardent fan of Men An Tol and Circulus suitably awestruck and jaws agape. We need to hear more quite frankly.” – Loosing Today
“Can music be gently grandiose? This is.” - The Crack
Having shot onto the alternative folk scene a few years ago, Nathalie Stern’s music has created a buzz among gig goers and music aficionados alike. With influences from the likes of Bon Iver, Iron & Wine and Neko Case, Nathalie performs live using a loop pedal with seamless perfection to layer vocals, guitars, bells and more, creating “delicate, magical and heartfelt” melodies which have acquired fans of all ages and backgrounds.
The inception of this “one woman choir” came from a longing to perform the traditional songs she had learnt in school in Sweden, but in the absence of other singing Swedes in the UK, Nathalie acquired a loop pedal and simply did it herself. This DIY ethos is strongly ingrained in her approach to music and performance as demonstrated by her self-released debut album, Firetales, out later this year and followed by a tour in Germany in December.
Although Nathalie’s music may be categorised as folk, it has elements of pop, punk, blues and even glitch. This diversity is proven by the roster of bands she has shared the stage with, such as Daniel (A.I.U) Higgs of Lungfish, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, Field Music, High Places, Alisdair Roberts and Des Ark. She welcomes opportunities to incorporate other aspects of art and media in her performances: one of the highlights was a show supported by a programme of experimental film shorts influenced by her music and made by local film makers.
Stay tuned for the latest news on shows and the launch of Firetales!
NEWS & REVIEWS: Check out my new interview at the BBC Tyne website! Follow this link to Ben Holland's interview; the slick result of 3 boozy hours at the Tyneside bar...: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2009/07/01/nathalie_stern_feature.shtml
It's 2009! And it has been for a while, I know, but I just spotted this in good old NARC Magazine which is a review from a show I did on 4th January at The End in Newcastle - it's pretty sweet:
"If you haven't heard of Nathalie Stern, don't worry, because you soon will have. You get the feeling that the Swedish-born soundscape artist will garner quite enough attention just from playing live. Making a mockery of ventriloquists everywhere by deftly sampling and looping her own voice back as she sings, Stern is able to singlehandedly conjure up an entirely ethereal backing band - it's quite a marvel to watch one slightly diminutive woman create such a ruckus using only a few pedals. She has released a couple of EPs and I would advise anyone to pick one up.
Her melodies sublime, her voice unique and her method mesmerising, I predict big things for her. If not on a national hype scale then certainly here in Newcastle - isn't it lovely to have someone local who isn't in a post-rock band to make a fuss about?"
Well it's certainly nice for me! Thanks Dave Wingrave!
The mid-December darkness just got a brighter with the arrival of another fine review in NARC Magazine of my appearance with High Places on 16th November at the Head of Steam in Newcastle:
"Why auction off the family candelabra to pay for a seasonal recital at the Sage, when Nathalie Stern is able to create a choir in such intimate environs with just a few effects-pedals, an acoustic guitar, and one gilded voice? Locally sourced, but Swedish born, she precisely loops her vocal layers upon one another, filling the room with her bewitching take on Swedish folk songs, and providing a strong opener tonight."
Thank you Bill Skinner at NARC Magazine!
We're only two days into November and it has been a good month already! I have a feature in this month's NARC Magazine which I've posted in my blog - please read! - and there's a review of my demo in The Crack which I've printed here:
"We've got a five-track CD from Nathalie Stern - which was recorded live at The Bridge Hotel - and it's pretty astonishing truth be told. She's from Sweden, but moved to England ten years ago and in 2003 Lake Me was formed with Stern on guitar and Lucy Hammond on drums. This solo work however sees Stern experimenting with choral effects, using a loop pedal and microphone with her clear-as-a-bell voice pushed very much to the fore in these tracks which stretch traditional folk songs into new and incredibly beautiful directions. It sounds experimental, and I suppose it is, but not in a jarring way. These are songs which are built up in carefully constructed layers; the aural equivalent of a Turner seascape and just as affecting. Can music be gently grandiose? This is."
Big thanks to Rob Meddes who wrote this.
October's issue of NARC Magazine include great reviews from two separate shows:
"We're transported to another place altogether. Nathalie Stern of Lake Me fame produces some of the most enchanting music I've heard for some time. A one-woman choir, using loops to create ethereal soundscapes, some based on traditional Scandinavian folk music, and some of her own composition. Whilst this sounds worthy and difficult on paper, it is truly accessible and absolutely wonderful. Britian and Scandinavia may be geographically close, but musically they're like different planets."
By Ewan McIntyre
AND:
"Nathalie Stern gets better with every gig. She has now added guitar (and bells!) to her pure, clear vocals. Her work is intensely musical, and musically intense, though it's never inaccessible. Her new songs call to mind Värttinä, Camille or Björk's experiments on Medulla, and she could easily transfer this kind of work to a bigger stage and a bigger audience."
By Craig Wilson Thanks to both Ewan and Craig for your excellence!I stumbled across this on the web, which put a smile on my face. Thanks to Mark @ LosingToday.com for these fine words:
"Currently based in Newcastle and at the moment (as she puts it herself) label free, Nathalie Stern is a Swedish songstress from the small town of Västerås who was once a member of Candysuck a band who aside being embarrassingly previously unknown to us did in their brief career manage to release a small but select salvo of well aimed records including one full length and featured within their ranks future members of the Concretes, much inspired by the likes of Babes in Toyland and L7 they appear to have had a knack at crafting out spiked slices of frenzied bubblegum pop that had the nonchalant charm of the Bangles suffering PMT - you can check a few of their tunes on the dedicated fan site at http://www.myspace.com/candysuckfans - we suggest you hook up to the precociously infectious ’kill your boyfriend’.
Anyhow obviously that was then but this is now, these days Nathalie with her trusted loop pedal in tow opts for mellower moments. Recanting a mixture of self penned material and re-workings of dusty long forgotten traditional Swedish folk ballads, Stern weaves a hypnotically harmonious hue with her ethereal though exquisitely enchanting lo-fi lullabies, all at frail and fragile these arresting bare boned apparitions ebb and flow like ghostly mariners on fog bound water lanes, haunting yet enticing they impart a bewitching siren like captivation as they swell and fall in see sawing formations. These recordings catch Ms Stern live at the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle, the cross weaving vocal intonations of ’uti var hage’ perhaps providing the sets best moment as it weaves unsteadily casting its strangely alluring shanty like spell craft as though whipped straight from an out take from the ’Wicker Man’. That said ’nu vaknen och gladjens’ with its softly unfurls monastic elegance should provide enough timeless mystery to keep the most ardent fan of Men An Tol and Circulus suitably awestruck and jaws agape. We need to hear more quite frankly."
http://www.losingtoday.com/tales.php?id=203
This one is from Echoes and Dust:
"Tonight, new Newcastle venue The End showcased two pioneering artists making use of loop stations through their entire set. For the uninitiated, theses are pieces of kit that sample and repeat song parts recorded live (most famously used by the mighty Son of Dave and to annoying use by one KT 'woo-hoo' Tunstall). The end result here tonight in the case of both artists, is mostly a multi-layered sonic mantra that ebbs into your mind, in this way the technique consistently conjures a kind of, blissed out gospel feeling.
None more so than with opening act Nathalie Stern. Hailing from Sweden and having lived in the North East for the last ten years, she slowly builds up her timeless loops using just her voice (the only instrument on a couple of her tracks tonight), her guitar and a set of bells. At this point I should point out I was roughly a quarter of the audience, this gig criminally under-attended, yet for me perfectly intimate.
She opens up with 'Grat' using only her voice and a number of blissful harmonies. The audience (all 4 of us) erupts. Noticeably surprised, Nathalie remarks 'It sounds like there's 30 of you!' to which I replied, 'I could say the same about you!' Elsewhere in this spellbinding set, we are introduced to simple winding guitar riffery on tracks 'Oh my my' and 'Where the tides go by' and to a Swedish fairytale of collecting '7 flowers' under your pillow to dream of your soulmate. It's all delicate, magical, heartfelt and delivered with an uncluttered naked grace. She ends her set with traditional Swedish rhyme 'Du Ar Kung', my personal highlight, it builds up a many layered lilting chorus then gently drowns itself, courtesy of Nathalie's tweaking of tempo, vibrato and backward sampling.
In the words of the next act, Rock Action records' Remember Remember, Nathalie played 'an awesome set'. "
http://echoesanddust.com/index.html
Here's a live show I did with Eli a couple weeks ago that I wanted to share with you and your friends. We played a bunch of songs and djayed some old records. Here's a gift of music. There's download links on my page if you want a free copy. Here's a bonus track too!:
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 162 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001
Where traditions are not so rare; Sea, country and works scent the air; A multitude of monuments, Planted tubs and patterned pavements.
The longish pedestrian malls; The remnants of defensive walls; Historic buildings are a gauge Of the respect for heritage.
Wheat, rape and pines in the fields; Estuaries guarded by shields; Long sandy beaches and wide scenes; Romantic-ruin go-betweens.
Rivers in parts licked by trees, Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries, And crossed by practical delights - Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.
Fine churches headed at Durham; Football kits ad infinitum; Kept castles - one for study; Masonry behind masonry.
And, with moulding-works out that way, It’s somewhere for a longer stay..?
Hey, how's it going? I've got a couple of gigs coming up in November with a three piece
band, keep an eye on my page if you're interested. Nev Clay playing them too. In the meantime I've
also got a new tune on my page called, 'What's Going On?' have a listen
if you have the time. Hope you're well :)
"blending low-level hip-hop beats with Scorn-esque bass and elonated guitar riffs to remarkable effect. . . it's that awesome. . . the music is superb, the artwork and packaging equally good. . . [it's] warped shuffling genius. 300% necro, foo'! (5/5)" (Zero Tolerance magazine).
Necro Deathmort's This Beat Is Necrotronic is released on Distraction Records on August 31st, but you can get your hands on it for FREE (on a 'if you like it, why not buy the CD?' basis) in all of its 320kps mp3 glory at distractionrecords.com!
On 24th July, krautophonic blizzard-wave duo WARM DIGITS unveil a full AV set as part of a one-night only double header with amazing Leeds trio QUACK QUACK. Like the great rhythm sections of James Brown, Africa 70, Can and Led Zeppelin, Quack Quack operate right next to your heartbeat and your footsteps. They understand the importance of rhythm and use it to get the good chemicals flowing. This is music for dancing and smiling. With sterling support from the new vocal project from Chippewa Falls' RACHEL LANCASTER and the DISTRACTION SOUND SYSTEM. Newcastle Cumberland Arms 8pm - Three Quid - hope you can come.
Crikey Moses if it isn't Nathalie Stern.. Thank you once more for a mesmerising set last night at The Polite Room... quite simply brilliant. See you round soon
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 2 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN
Once drove an old sedan, up north, From a place in Sydney to Cairns; Then to Kuranda I went forth, By train, to look without set plans.
I browsed through the trendy market, With fresh fruits of tropical kind; Walked to the creek through lush thicket - Nature’s hand giving peace of mind.
I dined in a scenic cafe; Then, outside, as I wrote for yen, Some passing Kooris called-out: “Hey, You go walkabout with your pen.”
Request or question, I don’t know - Assured voices, elderly men. That’s now several years ago, And I’ve seen the world - with my pen.
Online Now!
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