| Pitchfork |
 The thought first occurred to me on an escalator rising out of a D.C. Metro station: Norwegian musician Hanne Hukkelberg's arrangements are so dense and unusual they suck in sound. Listening to the title track of her third full-length, Blood from a Stone, I assumed the off-tempo clacks and the loud blasts of distortion I was hearing were all part of the music, the gradual ascension of the escalator heightening the song's steady crescendo. In fact, these elements were part of the machinery; that clatter was the grinding of escalator gears, and I'd heard that whale-song groaning of the belts every day for years. In addition to being a good reminder to get away from my computer more often, the experience suggested to me a mutability in Hukkelberg's music, which can change dramatically depending on your surroundings. To some extent, all music is like this, but her tightly orchestrated pop can be so intricate that it becomes interactive.
That sensation is further heightened by her use of found instruments. Blood From a Stone, like its two predecessors, uses everything and the kitchen sink: bicycle spokes, typewriters, train doors, and flagpoles. Instead of drum kits, Hukkelberg and her backing musicians fashion percussion instruments from old refrigerators, ovens, and other discarded appliances. This isn't Stomp, though. Crucially, she makes no big show of such unusual instrumentation, which is most notable on songs like the standout "In Here/Out There" and the slowly intensifying "Crack", when the makeshift instruments mingle with the bass and guitar to create a strange rhythm section. In general, these are subtle, subdued, and occasionally stiff arrangements, which are as self-possessed as Sufjan's or Danielson's, but typically not as ostentatious....full text |
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| Pastemagazine |
| Inevitably the elfin shadow of Björk is something that most female Scandinavian vocalists are forced to grapple with. On her last album, Hanne Hukkelberg attacked the issue head on with a Pixies cover and a moodier tone laced with found sounds and got a Norwegian Grammy and international acclaim for her efforts. Here, Hukkelberg’s impish charm is more contained, even if her ear for texture remains characteristically elegant. The album’s title track (and clear standout) shows a jazzier edge, though, and the limber vocals have a swing that points away from the icy angularity of many of her regional contemporaries. For all its synths and studio treatment, the music on Blood From A Stone feels warm, lived in and the slightest bit coy. While it lacks the propulsive edge of, say, the Knife, Hukkelberg’s work has a definite orchestral sense, the hallmark of someone who has listened to her share of Cocteau Twins, which is never a bad thing....full text |
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| Musicomh |
The title gives it away. Buoyant, bicycle spoke playing songstress Hanne Hukkelberg, whose whimsical pitter-pattering through two albums has recalled the airier, more pastoral side of Norwegian folk, has gone electric. Instead of inserting a core stream of roots-laden whimsy into fluttering melodic progressions, Hukkelberg is strapping on, plugging in and rocking out.
But is this the pure Hanne Hukkelberg? Were the first two albums, 2005's Little Things and 2007's Rykestraase 68, merely exercises? It's tough to judge, as this is quite a change. Regardless, one thing Blood From A Stone exercises throughout is Hukkelberg's dexterity, and way with song structures. Yet what it lacks is exactly what made the songwriter so deliciously likeable with previous efforts. Gone is the cute, amiable Hukkelberg. What we have instead is angrier, grittier, rocker....full text |
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