Norwegian artist Susanna is back with a new album, Garden of Earthly Delights, set for release February 22 via her SusannaSonata label. To create this record, Susanna has gathered a new team of musicians, called The Brotherhood of Our Lady. Largely inspired by the works of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, the first single from the record ‘City of Hope’ is streaming online now. Speaking about the track, Susanna said "'City of Hope' is a manic chant for guiding in love and life, with hints of ecstasy in the horizon even though something's lurking in the undertow."

The incredible, ahead-of-its-time art of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch bears strong comparison with the music of Norwegian artist Susanna. Visionary, disturbing, spiritual; vivid images of darkness and light, good and evil, heaven and hell and the folly of mankind. Like her songs, Bosch’s iconic images range from the panoramic to the intimate, and express bliss, torment and tortuous inner conflicts.

On her 13th album, Susanna takes a selection of Bosch’s paintings as starting points for a fervent, poetic rosary of fantastical songs and stories. Tracks like ‘Gluttony and Lust’, ‘Death and the Miser’ and ‘Ship of Fools’, reflect Bosch’s depictions of sin and human weakness, while ‘Wayfarer’, ‘Ecstasy’ and ‘Beautiful Life’ suggest the transcendent search for spiritual rewards.

"While this is not a soundtrack to his paintings," she says, "I feel a resemblance between the absurdity in his pictures and today’s existence. Humanity has never been more enlightened and competent to make sustainable solutions for everyone, but we still close our eyes to poverty, environmental issues and lack of equality."

Originally a commissioned work for the Vossajazz Festival 2017, 'Garden of Earthly Delights' ranges from soul searching balladry to sonorous electronic expanses. Some listeners might catch echoes of the melodic range of Joni Mitchell, the confessional darkness of Nina Simone and the traumatised intensity of Diamanda Galas, filtered through a medieval folk and modern experimental sensibility. But there’s no mistaking the powerful, questing clarity of Susanna’s distinctive voice, and the core of symbolic imagery she draws on from ancient mythology via medieval mysticism to present-day consumer society.

'Garden of Earthly Delights' track list:

1. Garden of Earthly Delights

2. Wayfarer

3. Ecstasy X

4. Death and the Miser

5. Ship of Fools

6. Ecstasy

7. Wilderness

8. Wayfarer II

9. Gluttony and Lust

10. Beautiful Life

11. By Earth and Starry Heaven

12. City of Hope

13. River to Hell

14. Gathering of Birds

With her new album, Go Dig My Grave, due on February 9, Norwegian artist Susanna has shared a beautiful interpretation of Lou Reed's ‘Perfect Day’. The upcoming album is a unique project between Susanna, Swiss baroque harp player Giovanna Pessi, accordion player Ida Hidle and fiddle player & folk singer Tuva Syvertsen. The quartet have reworked ten eclectic songs from seemingly disparate worlds and brought them together on this album of sympathetic and beautiful interpretations.

Filmed in Oslo & directed by André Løyning, Susanna explains the video, "André Løyning had this idea of showing something different than probably most people first think of as a ‘perfect day’- the love and affection between two men, in a relationship, spending a day off together. I immediately loved the idea, and we spent some time looking for the right couple. The main reason for me to make this video is to be able to show people around the world a same-sex couple, and to promote the rights for people to love and live together regardless of gender. I think Løyning has made a gorgeous video to our version of the Lou Reed song.”

With her 12th album, she explores historic musical gaps by combining music from the great American songbook and old English traditionals with baroque instrumentation and her own, characteristic vocal interpretations. Add some Henry Purcell, some Lou Reed, and Susanna’s own composition, and Go Dig My Grave is a profoundly personal collection of dark songs with deep roots through centuries of American and European musical heritage. 

Tour dates:

'Go Dig My Grave' tracklist:

1. Freight Train (Elizabeth Cotten)

2. Cold Song (John Dryden/Henry Purcell)

3. Invitation to the Voyage (Charles Baudelaire/Susanna Wallumrød)

4. Rye Whiskey (Traditional)

5. The Willow Song (Anonymous)

6. Go Dig My Grave (Traditional)

7. Lilac Wine (James Shelton)

8. Wilderness (Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner)

9. The Three Ravens (Old English folk ballad)

10. Perfect Day (Lou Reed)