Reviews RCD2169
The rett og slett and the elderly vakkert og modent sell som setter bortimot all together norsk musikk på sidelinjen. Cirka annenhver he av av slik tyngde at det er vanskelig å tro hva som faktisk skjer, tungen blir tykk og det er umulig å gjøre annet enn å sette seg ned og la det flomme over en. "Fisherman's Blues" he sang in slik, "Rain" in annen, "Circulating Light" in tredje. Hoderystende brisk. Om ikke denne platen blir tildelt flere priser, blir jed skuffet - og overrasket.
Dagens Næringsliv (NO)
Music på "Rocks & Straws" he bathed storslått og grandson, varied og slagkraftig, men den bærer først og Fremdst i seg en smidighet som he directly knyttil to Anneli Dreckers feeling og ferdigheter. Hun tar i bruk popens virkemidler og gir låtene et gjennomgående fengende vesen, men hun behersker et langt bredere spekter og setter det gjerne i bevegelse. 5/6.
Aftenposten (NO)
Å lytte til Anneli Drecker kan av og til føles som å stå helt stille i et vinterlandskap, omsluttet av store, tjukke snøfiller som sakte, men sikkert daler ned mot bakken. Detectively følelse. Annelis vokal gir inntrykk av å være ekstremt controlled, men velvety også bærer av uante naturkrefter, Krefter som kan slippes løs før du vet orders av det. Anneli Dreckers vocal skinner sterkere enn midnattsola.
Dagbladet (NO)
There are electrifying echoes of Kate Bush and Liz Fraser in the singer´s frosty, impassioned, piercing vibrato warble on siren songs like "Alone" and "Come Summer´s Wind", even if the swirling electro-orchestral arrangements behind her sometimes descend into Enya-style middlebrow tastefulness.
Uncut (UK)
This is how pop has to sound: complex and dynamic, tender and powerful, richly composed and virtuoso, and: full of passion. An arctic pearl, this CD.
Xaver (DE)
Bel Canto co-invented the genre of dream pop. Her German-Norwegian singer Anneli Drecker has done a lot since then, along with three children, also music: a macabre duet with Gerard Depardieu ("I'll Strangle You") and worked with modern bands like Röyskopp. Her new solo album is a declaration of love the natural beauty of Norway. So you fly right away on the rugged coast of the Scandinavian country with the rushing wind with the first piece "Alone". Strings accompany the flight. "Circulating Light" is not only reminiscent of Kate Bush because of a piano; playful, hymnic art pop, orchestrally staged, dynamically screwing up and ending quietly with chimes. "Come Summer's Wind" on .. The base of an acoustic guitar is reminiscent of Goldfrapp's last record "Tales Of Us", but is not quite so spherically transfigured. There is a lot of variety in the pieces. "Fisherman's Blues" is completely orchestral ballad, here Drekker's voice almost sounds like Joni Mitchell. With "Ocean's Organ" and "Waiting For A Boat" you can actually achieve the grandiose art pop epics and sound experiences that you know from Kate Bush. Grandiose. 8/10.
Eclipsed (DE)
Many people know her voice, so far she has stayed in the background: The German-Norwegian Anneli Drecker has long worked with the clubbing specialists from Röyksopp, as well as with experimentalists such as Hector Zazou or Simon Raymonde from the Cocteau Twins. With "Rock & Straws", the singer from Tromso is now leaving the electronic world and introducing music with plenty of pathos, opulent, occasionally orchestrally supported sound and poetically touching pieces. She is supported by renowned sound inventors such as jazz guitarist Eivind Aarset or a Maori -Chor, who, with great emphasis, turn Anneli Drecker's songs about nature and the sea, wind and seafarers into harmonious miniatures with an emotional breadth. "Rocks & Straws" offers melancholic pop that embraces the listener with sweet melancholy.
Audio (DE)
Bel Canto may still be remembered by some fans of the HeavenlyVoices genre. At that time, her compositions closed the gap between heavenly rapture and yet quite earthly pop music. The German-Norwegian singer Anneli Drecker gave this project much of its uniqueness with her voice. With "Rocks & Straws" the accomplished front woman returns to dream pop after a series of musical adventures, for example with Jah Wobble, Motorpsycho and Röyksopp, and brings us a magical re-listening. Relaxed, but not unfocused, emotional, but not emotionally charged , the songs dance from climax to climax. Lovely strings and carried piano sounds ("Fisherman's Blues") are just as important as atmospheric computer sounds,
Sonic Seducer (DE)
Something ethereal and elven-like hovers in the air when Anneli Drecker sings. But also melancholy, plus something of the vastness of the sea and the stillness of Nordic landscapes. Arvid Hanssen set poems to music on her third solo CD "Rocks & Straws" (rune gramophone), the German-Norwegian singer, who also went to the mike for a-ha. Her music is difficult to grasp, she is piling up orchestral sounds some pathos, but the woman from Tromso puts moments of silence against it only on the piano.The album moves on the borders of pop and jazz, if you want to anchor Anneli Drecker in pop history, then most likely with Kate Bush. State newspaper Lüneburg (DE)
It takes a lot of self-confidence and an unshakable belief in your own talent if you start a band in the Norwegian provincial town of Tromso at the age of 17 in order to get started with Brussels. After all, Belgium was considered a center for electronic music in the 1980s - and Anneli Drecker's artistic Gothic Dream Pop inspirations were stunning enough to give her Bel Canto compositions plenty of critical acclaim and audience appeal in an instant. Her characteristic experimental singing style also helped the Norwegian to be on stage with many great artists or to record CDs. "Rocks & Straws", Drecker's third solo album, is a homecoming, an ode to her birthplace and the area in which she grew up. A production,
Mox Oldenburg (DE)
In the eleven songs on "Rocks & Straws", the Norwegian singer and actress Anneli Drecker paints enchantingly dark pop landscapes. All songs are based on poems by her compatriot Arvid Hanssen (1932-1998). The heart of the album is the epic "Ocean's Organ", that reminds of the drowned Norwegian sailors. Dirt and band pull out all the stops here and rock off powerfully; a choir from New Zealand Maori ensures well-dosed pathos. Drecker became famous with the band Bel Canto. Her third solo album shows that the 46-year-old, whose father comes from Bielefeld, is a sensitive interpreter with a keen sense for stories.
Märkische Olderzeitung (DE)
It took a long time, but it was worth the wait: "Rocks & Straws", Anneli Drecker's third solo record, was released in April in her native Norway. Now the great album of the 46-year-old is also on the shelves of German record stores. The daughter of a German and a Norwegian makes dreamy-atmospheric indie pop again on "Rocks & Straws". Guitar chords alternate with playful electronics. The ethereal voice of the mother of three children, who was born on the Arctic Circle, hovers above everything, sometimes surprisingly strongly reminiscent of Alison Goldfrapp. Anneli Drecker, who became known with the band Bel Canto and already worked with her compatriots from Röyksopp and a-ha, rarely sounded better than on "Rocks & Straws".
Teleschau (DE)
https://dereksmusicblog.wordpress.com