On her new album, A Temporary Soothing, Norwegian songwriter, Siv Jakobsen, takes on a more expansive sound, while challenging her relationship with fear. And the outcome is an album that’s crying out to get lost in, whereby its title tells of the exact type of headspace that it offers.

These are Siv Jakobsen’s Sound & Vision picks:

Three albums I love:

Lucy Rose – Like I Used To

Lucy Rose’s album, Like I Used To was massive for me at a time when I was first delving into songwriting back in 2013. I spent my first ever tour that same year driving around the west coast in the US for six weeks with my then bandmate, Maddie. We only listened to a tiny handful of records that we had with us – and Like I Used To being the one I put on the most. This record taught me so much about songwriting – these songs are like no others and became part of the foundation for my own style of writing.

Rachel Sermanni – So It Turns 

I have loved Rachel’s songs since I found her first album, Under Mountains, by accident somehow in the depths of the internet back in 2014. I have loved all that she has done since, including her latest album So It Turns. The images she conjures with her voice, her words, her performance, pull me in completely. I love Rachel’s ability to make music that feels so creatively free and yet so in line with what each song seems to need. So it Turns is playful and free and a beautiful listen.

Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers

Old Flowers only came out a few weeks ago, but I’ve been spinning it non stop since then. My introduction to Courtney’s music was quite random – finding one of her first recordings in a record shop in Seattle in 2013. I’ve followed her ever since, and this new effort is quickly becoming a favourite. It’s so brutal, so honest and so incredibly beautiful. It’s a real feat to be able to write so  well and so completely without filter at the same time.

A book I would recommend:

Neil Gaiman – The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I am a massive Neil Gaiman fan and I keep coming back to his books over and over again. I have loved everything of his that I’ve read, The Ocean at the End of the Lane being my current favourite book of his. His writing is so vivid and colourful, and completely without boundaries as to what can or cannot happen. This book is somehow rooted in realism and in magic at the same time, and it makes Gaiman’s story very relatable, even in the books mythical and magical aspects. It is imaginative and poetic, and I find his style of writing incredibly inspiring.

A movie I love:

I’ve had the hardest time coming up with a movie for this question – I don’t watch a lot of TV and when I do it’s more shows and documentaries. So I’ve chosen to highlight Louis Theroux’s documentaries. I think I’ve watched pretty much every single one of them, and I find them all so fascinating. A few highlights for me are his series, By Reason of Insanity and The Most Hated Family in America. He has a way of talking to people with both compassion and intrigue, no matter if he seems to agree with their views or not.

A song that’s important to me:

Ane Brun – Changing Of The Seasons

This is a song I keep coming back to again, and again, and again. Many of Ane’s earlier records became fundamental for me when I first started writing my own songs. I remember learning this song on the guitar way before I was ready to play it, playing each line over and over again. Ane writes from the gut, – no filter, always real and always honest. Changing Of The Seasons stirred the Norwegian in me I think – the way she describes the seasons changing – ‘the relief of spring, the intoxication of summer-rain, the clearness of fall and ‘how winter makes me reconsider it all.’ It does feel like such relief when spring finally comes, and winter, however beautiful, can really be tough. She describes in it a restlessness I can very much relate to.

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