Susanne Sundfør: “The biggest danger is ourselves and losing our ability to have civilised conversations”

nme.com:

Susanne Sundfør has spoken to NME about her new album ‘Blómi’, and how it was inspired by finding distraction in the old world away from the political divisions of modern society.The acclaimed Norwegian singer-songwriter and Röyksopp collaborator released her sixth album on Friday (April 28), following on from 2017’s acclaimed ‘Music For People In Trouble‘.With the predecessor inspired by Sundfør’s own emotional battles reflecting the planet in peril, she said that her new record looks for light in the darkness instead – not that the world is in an any better situation.“Are we more in trouble now than in 2017?

I think we are, but it’s more about polarisation than the state of the world anymore,” she told NME. “There are a lot of things that could go wrong, but the biggest danger is ourselves and our ability to have civilised conversations and keep trying to communicate across political realms.“Personally, I’ve fallen out with people because we’ve had different opinions on political matters and I find that really sad.

On that point, we’re in a worse state than when ‘Music For People In Trouble’ came out.”One of the main reasons for societal divisions, argued Sundfør, is the misinformation and culture wars created by mainstream media.“I started looking into things and came to the conclusion that the world is run by lizards,” she laughed. “I’m joking of course, but we are in a much worse place it seems.

For some reason, we believe more in the media today than we used to. I grew up with people taking the media with a grain of salt, but now I feel like today we ask less questions.“I find that really worrying, and I think it’s surprising that we don’t talk more about that.