Amanda Jenssen

If you want to get to know Amanda Jenssen then this is where you should start, with this album. Because this is album really is the sum of Amanda’s influences.
On “Happyland” you can feel the energy and happiness of Cab Calloway, the drama and gravity of Edith Piaf and Nina Simone, the sadness of Nick Drave, the craziness of Tom Waits and the harmony of the Walker Brothers. But at the same time as you detect traces of Donovan, Elvis and Ella Fitzgerald you hear immediately that Amanda is at home in today’s musical climate.
The lyrics are very deep and devout, conjuring up the same feeling that you get when it’s at its darkest just before dawn, just before everything blows up and changes. The transition to a new time, to brightness and life.
The themes of loneliness and flight return several times in the songs, but you will also hear of reconciliation, love and passion. Everything fits in what Amanda calls the “Happyland” – a sanctuary characterized by decadence and escapism, but also filled with stories, meetings and of hope that never dies.
On “Happyland” you can find everything from murder ballads such as “Charlie” and lullabies like “Sing Me To Sleep” to melting orchestral anthems such as “I Choose You” and “Our Time”. You will also find songs from the genre that Amanda calls gangster jazz – messy numbers such as “Borderline” and “Save Me For A Day”. Finally you have those songs that make you long to see them live such as “Common Henry” and “The Rebounder”.
All lyrics have been penned by Amanda who has together with Pär Wiksten written the music and overseen production of the album. The album was recorded in Stockholm’s classic Atlantis studio and mixed in New York by Brian Sperber, producer and mixer to artists such as Moby, Patti Smith, Black Sabbath and Julian Casablancas.
“Happyland feels almost like a book where each song is a chapter. A book that was written over one and a half years, in tour buses and sat up late in my one room apartment in southern Stockholm. It’s intense and really personal, clean but at the same time dirty and full of decadent elegance. I have had the fortune and pleasure of being able to work with everyone I wanted to, and all the time on my own terms. For that I am very thankful. I’m so lucky”, says Amanda about the upcoming album.