Bio

A NEW BEGINNING:

Upon turning the new millennium Elin Synnøve Bråthen started afresh. It was time to pursue her dream of becoming a performer, a recording artist, a singer & songwriter. She realized that the most important thing in life was music. Elin Synnøve moved from friends, family and music projects in the north of Norway to start a 5-year long music education at the University of Agder. From being a “local talent” in small-town Northern Norway, she now was in a situation that allowed her to really explore her music dream, and find her voice as performing artist and songwriter. There were a thousand tales to tell.

DISCOVERING THE VOICE:

Growing up in the north, Elin Synnøve sang with a lot of choirs, especially church repertoire and classical repertoires; mostly using her soprano voice. Little by little she started experimenting, stretching the voice into a much deeper range, and sometimes using full chest voice in a semi-high range, producing a nearly Bulgarianesque nasally ethnical sound. When writing music, Elin Synnøve made a point of writing without filter, without any set rules, but in a flow of creativity where the sky has no limit. This goes for the melodies, the arrangements, and also the lyrics. After having struggled with lyric-writing, she found unexpected help in her dreams. For some time Elin Synnøve had taken interest in dream interpretation and started keeping a dream-journal. The dream-notes kept piling up by the bedpost until she linked them with the music; she basically turned her dreams into pop-lyrics. All the songs have sprung out of a dream; they may sound fairytale-like, but are at the same time deeply personal.

THE BAND ELIKSIR:

Since 2000 Elin Synnøve had created a most peculiar world of pop-songs in which she mixed elements of pop, rock, jazz, world, and Celtic music. She now needed a band. In the school environment of Southern Norway she connected with four talented male musicians: Hilmar Kristoffersen (keyboards, vintage synthesizers, grand piano), Trygve Tambs-Lyche (drums and percussion), Glenn Phillip Nilsen (electric bass and double bass), and Haldor Røyne (guitars, often spiced up with signature sound effects). The band-name “Eliksir” is not taken from the dictionary (where it means ‘magic potion’); it is taken from Elin Synnøve’s childhood. She called herself “Elik” instead of “Elin” and often referred to herself in the third person; thus “Elik says” (in her northern accent) became “Elik sir”. Elin Synnøve and the band introduced the first Eliksir concert during the Dark Season Festival in the city of Kristiansand in fall 2003, and followed this up by a number of concerts in Norway. They received overwhelmingly positive feedback everywhere; after a concert in Melbu Eliksir received their first fan-letter, which ended with a heartfelt and inspiring request: I hope this fantastic music will be recorded and released soon!

ØYSTEIN SEVÅG AS PRODUCER:

In fall 2004 Elin Synnøve asked one of her university mentors, saxophone-player and recording artist Bendik Hofseth, for advice. She had songs and a band and now wanted to record and publish the material. Who would be the right person to produce this project? After pondering for a few weeks Hofseth suggested she contacted Øystein Sevåg who resided in Germany at the time. Elin Synnøve had never heard of Øystein Sevåg, but was taken by surprise when doing some research. This man had composed music and released a fine collection of records; his international merit-list was very impressive. He was released on SonyBMG and legendary Windham Hill in the USA; and chart-listed on Billboard for 36 subsequent weeks. My study-mates started speaking in enthused high-pitched voices when they heard Elin Synnøve had contacted Øystein Sevåg. Apparently it would be scoop to have this man produce her record! The challenge now was money. How on earth would she be able to pay for a professional studio recording with a star producer? Self-confidently she dialed Sevåg’s number and laid the cards on the table. Sevåg asked her to send a demo, saying the artist and the music was ultimately more important than money. A couple of weeks later Elin Synnøve got a call from Germany: Øystein Sevåg was in!

EP BECOMES DEBUT-ALBUM:

With producer Sevåg onboard Elin Synnøve and the band started recording 5 tracks for an EP. Sevåg was so impressed by the song-material that he insisted extending the EP into a full album. The band members moved the production to Musikkloftet Studio in Oslo, where they resumed recording the debut album “Earthly Things”. Alongside the Eliksir musicians and Elin Synnøve, a number of esteemed musicians contribute on this album: Kristin Skaare (accordion), Aage Kvalbein (cello), Bente Bråthen (vocals), Trond Tellefsen (keyboards and programming), Knut Andreas Alnes Antonsen (guitars), Bendik Hofseth (vocals), and Øystein Sevåg (additional piano and programming). Elin Synnøve travelled to Portugal to have photos taken for the cover, and to collect sound samples of whales and dolphins from a whale-watching base on the Acores; the animal sounds are used as sound-curtain on one of the tracks. “Earthly Things” was released 7 May 2007 on the producer’s label (Siddhartha Records); publishing rights kept by Elin Synnøve. Distributor in Norway was SonyBMG, and thereafter Musikkoperatørene. (The album is available online on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and other online music outlets. ) The release concert in Oslo took place in front of an enthusiastic audience with high expectations. A music journalist wrote in his review:

“Earthly Things” is a strong album with 10 great songs that leave you painting mental pictures; it conveys the feelings of sorrow, longing and pain, but also joy and comfort. I would like to believe that many people will find this music both exotic and exciting far beyond Norway’s borders.”

Elin Synnøve Bråthen’s music has been likened to artists like Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Sting, Roxy Music, Radka Toneff, Mari Boine, Renaissance, Tori Amos, The Corrs, Clannad, Enya, Bel Canto, October Project, Mary Black, Keane, Sarah Fimm, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Loreena McKennitt, just to mention a few points of reference.

EARTHLY THINGS GOING ABROAD:

In 2007 and 2008 Elin Synnøve Bråthen presented the debut album at the music trades MIDEM in Cannes and POPKOMM in Berlin. Her newly established music contacts shook their heads upon the artist “representing herself” at professional music business trades; at the same time they were intrigued by the daredevil-mindedness and perhaps a little bit charmed by the certain “Norwegian naivety”? Whatever the reason, Elin Synnøve enjoyed some hectic days in the European big cities, because there were a lot of people who wanted to meet “Elin of Eliksir”; “the voice of the Arctic north”, the artist seemed so exotic to some of them that they hardly raised the eyebrow when she told them (as a joke!) she was brought up among a pack of wolves and had no language until she was 13… Meeting the world’s music business has given positive exposure in a number of countries, primarily the UK and Ireland, but also Southeast Asia, Germany, USA, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Basically it is down to single-track licensing for compilations, and airplay – on both commercial and alternative radio channels. Elin Synnøve gave a major interview for a Spanish music magazine: Eliksir is given more space than The Rolling Stones. The track “Fairytale” is released on the compilation “Simply The Finest Vol.2” in Hong Kong , and in December 2009 the radio edit of the track “Harbour Song” was included on German release “Soundtrip Norway” alongside Vamp, Mari Boine and other famous Norwegian artists. This year title song “Earthly Things” appears on a different German compilation release containing exclusively international female artists, “Uncompressed World Vol.II”. Through the net phenomenon MySpace Elin Synnøve connected with the famous author Paulo Coelho, Coelho got a copy of “Earthly Things” upon which he invited her to visit next time she came to France. October last year she dropped by Coelho in Paris. Elin Synnøve has been asked to do vocals for soundtracks a few times, and is just waiting for the right project to present itself.

AWARD AND CHARTLISTING IN THE UK:

Maybe most remarkable was the nomination for Best International with the track “Harbour Song”, and actually winning the EMA UK 2008 award Best Video for the track & video “Fairytale” – a low budget video that the Exposure Music Awards jury fell in love with because there was a certain “Twin Peaks quality” about it. However, the award may have had more to do with the track itself because it was later known that one of the jury members was sight-impaired… The footage for the video (directed and cut by Harald Sandø) was filmed on locations in Oslo: Røa, Uranienborg Church and in the director’s bathtub… Following up the EMA, Elin Synnøve Bråthen was invited to be guest on air at SKY TV (Birmingham), where the video-show Cuetracks aired the video for 3 subsequent months alongside Coldplay, Katy Perry, and other world-renowned artists. The London-paper “The Irish World” used all superlatives available in its review of the debut album:

”stunning debut” ; ”an altogether groundbreaking album”; ”spectacular”;  ”…so beautifully and sensually sung that words simply cannot describe the experience that awaits the fortunate listener. There is certainly a great creative intelligence at work here throughout this album-wherever it hails from-and the listening experience simply gets richer and more absorbing with every play. An amazingly talented Composer / Singer / Songwriter, herself hauntingly beautiful with such an incredible voice, she can most certainly take her place among the top contemporary female artists of today.”

The track “Feel It” is included on two different compilations in the UK, and in 2009 a trance remix (by Alien in Transit) was released on “Poolside Anthems Vol.2” in the UK. This version was “pick of the week” on the radio, and reached spot 14 on the UK House Chart in June.

ELIN SYNNØVE BRÅTHEN AND OTHER PROJECTS:

Previously Elin Synnøve has been sort of a musical chameleon; the list of various concert collaborations and recordings is long and versatile. Without any classical training she has been soprano soloist with a baroque ensemble performing Händel’s “Messiah”, she has performed with artists like Mari Boine, One People, and Karen Jo Fields at the world concert “Wiping the Tears”. In the very north of Norway Elin Synnøve did the opening number for the festival “Riddu Riddu”, performed an improvisation concert with rock musicians in the City of Tromsø; she has visited jazz-club scenes with jazz versions of her own material; guest vocals with big bands and had solo parts with a number of different choirs. On several occasions she did vocals in Øystein Sevåg’s band with musicians like Bendik Hofseth, Paolo Vinaccia, and Lakki Patey, Rune Arnesen, Audun Erlien, Audun Kleive and others. Of recent recordings Elin Synnøve Bråthen contributes on Øystein Sevåg “Caravan” and jazz saxophone-player Petter Wettre “Hallmark Moments”. She has performed with the band “Rebels” (Irish traditional music), and appeared live on Irish radio with Gaelic songs after having been spotted singing in an Irish pub long after closing hours…

THE ANCHOR AND THE DREAM – WITH MEN’S CHOIR, MANDARIN SONG, AND THREE VIDEOS:

Fall 2008 throughout 2009 was a creative working period for Elin Synnøve. In fall 2008 she wrote about 20 new songs at the same time as she started out on a doctorate research project within popular music performance (at the University of Agder). In the first month of 2009 she went to South Africa to take part in a television production. The rest of 2009 has been dedicated to working on the recording of the album “The Anchor and the Dream”, this time released under her own name – not Eliksir. The band musicians are the same, and as with “Earthly Things” Elin Synnøve hired Øystein Sevåg as producer. The recording has taken place at Musikkloftet (with Vidar Lunden) and Fersk Lyd in Oslo, final mix and mastering done by Giert Clausen in collaboration with Elin Synnøve. This somewhat extraordinary pop-album includes 12 tracks and 3 music videos, whereof one of the tracks is sung in Mandarin, a task that eventually called for bringing in a language coach. A label manager and friend from Hong Kong, who turned Elin Synnøve’s attention to this song in the first place, returned the tape twice tagged with the following remark:

“You sing like an angel, but I don’t understand a word of what you are saying”

… Another “oddity” on this pop album is men’s choir, male singers from the Oslo choir Gli Scapoli. This has added a special flavor to this production. Guest musicians are Øystein Sevåg (piano), Åshild Watne (lyre and Norwegian folk harp), and Gisle Torvik (guitar). Four music videos were filmed on locations in Ireland (Carraroe in Connemara and Dublin). Elin Synnøve brought a crew over from Norway: the fantastic cameraman Nils Petter Lotherington, the exceptionally creative stylist Cårejånni Enderud, producer Sevåg and photographer Astrid Lunke. The Irish actor Seamus Hughes is co-acting in two of the videos; cut by Erland Edenholm, sound finish by Giert Clausen. “The Anchor and the Dream” is released by Knut Værnes on the label Curling Legs, distributed by Musikkoperatørene, and promoted by Atle Bøckmann and Glenn Larsen (Kult AS). Album design is by Øivind Madsen. The album is available on iTunes.