When hearing Anna Gréta at the piano, you become witness to an astonishingly mature artist, with absolutely profound technique, a complex understanding of style and harmony and an impressively wide range of musical expression, who has made an extraordinarily good name for herself in just a few years on the Scandinavian scene. Over a period of two years, partly influenced by isolation, the twelve compositions of ‘Nightjar in the Northern Sky’ emerged, for Anna Gréta not only as a pianist but also as a singer.

The album title ‘Nightjar in the Northern Sky’ sets the tone for the world of the album: A metaphor for the Scandinavian expanse, tranquility and the close connection between people and nature, a theme that runs through the songs in many pictures. “Nature is just an enormous force in life. It is so much bigger than most of the other things that otherwise seem so significant to us. And it is, in its infinite facets, perhaps the greatest inspiration for my music. A place where the noise falls silent and you can feel and hear yourself again,” before adding: “Recently I have been developing a passion for bird-watching – something that I reflect on in the title track. When you observe nature carefully you can experience or see something unique. Sort of like searching for love. The nightjar is a bird that is rarely seen flying across the sky in Sweden and has been observed in Iceland less than five times. I feel that everyone is looking for something unique in their lives. And that nature can offer that to the ones open to see it.”

With each of the tracks on the album she creates little, self-contained worlds that fit into a bigger picture. Light-footed, relaxed, reduced, concentrated. An art that required a great deal of work and attention to detail. Together with pop-experienced producer Albert Finnbogason, Anna Gréta chose the perfect, hand-picked line-up and sound for each of her extraordinarily refined – harmoniously and rhythmically – compositions.

Although always in a coherent framework, Anna took elements from a very diverse range of musical styles, alternating between jazz elements and influences from pop music to excerpts from classical and folk. All these elements create a remarkably multi-layered album, which at the same time tells a coherent, bigger story.

180g vinyl with digital download code.