Signe Tollefsen
Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands | INDIE
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Reviews Signe Tollefsen
(English)
Her name, which has been buzzing around for a while now in the Dutch music scene, seems more Scandinavian than Dutch. Yet she was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The singer-songwriter delivered a beautiful self-titled album, one that has been noticed also in the USA. Rightly so, because Signe is a miraculous mix of PJ Harvey, Ane Brun and Joni Mitchell, but doesn’t copy these singers in any way, although live she likes to throw in a cover every once in a while.
- Opzij, October 2009
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Dutch-American singer-songwriter Signe Tollefsen came to The Netherlands in 2004 to study music. In 2006 she won the Grote Prijs van Nederland. She plays a diversity of instruments, has an amazing set of pipes and puts an enormous amount of expression in her performance. Musically Tollefsen, who wrote all her songs, offers an amalgam of jazzy blues, chanson, folk and roots. This resulted in an incredibly strong album without real weak moments. Tollefsen’s voice reminds of Joni Mitchell and in the beautiful Jeff she pays her tribute compositionally.
Vocally, however, she goes much further, especially in the intense climaxes of some songs. Her guitar playing also deserves special notion, as is immediately evident in the beautiful opener It Smells of You. Other peaks are the more and more heavy-hearted sounding blues Hooked with astonishing vocals and beautiful arrangements, the amazingly sung King of the Fire and the groovy History Class. This Is It is a melancholic end to this stunning album.
- Frits Barth, Heaven, October 2009
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3 voor 12 naar aanleiding van Signe Tollefsen’s optreden als support voor ex-Lamb zangeres Lou Rhodes op 27 april 2010 in de Lux / Nijmegen
Het komt niet vaak voor dat het voorprogramma het hoofdprogramma overtreft. Signe Tollefsen uit Amsterdam lukt dat wel. Tollefsen zucht, fluistert, kreunt, zet zichzelf in een loop en vult dit aan met minimalistisch gitaarspel. Zo wordt haar muziek spannend, dreigend en beklemmend en het laat je niet meer los. Je wilt je ook niet ontwurmen, want het optreden kent een grote variatie. Tollefsen blijft verrassen; zij het met een sublieme uitvoering van Dirty Diana of met een letterlijke Engelse vertaling van “alles is koek en ei”. Haar charme en het luchtig communiceren met het publiek zorgen ervoor dat het optreden niet al te intens wordt. Desondanks heeft de krullenbol uit de grachtenmetropool gezorgd voor een heus kippenvelmoment. Je vraagt je af hoe de avond nog beter kan worden na zo een optreden
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Translation conclusion:
It seldom happens that the support act surpasses the main act in quality. Signe Tollefsen from Amsterdam just did. - VPRO
The name Signe Tollefsen sounds like melancholic Scandinavian singer/songwriters. Not such a crazy thought, because Signe’s debut could easily be placed in this tradition.
The Dutch/American singer won the Grolsch Grote Prijs in 2006 and her repertoire is often described as folk noir.
She has a schooled and remarkably powerful voice with here and there a sharp edge.
Her associative lyrics give an insight into her emotions, and her dreamy melodies move you.
Tollefsen’s starting point is traditional folk, which she translates into more personal and contemporary compositions, and then mixes with pop and americana.
With this promising debut she creates high expectations.
- Revolver Magazine
Discography
Album 'Signe Tollefsen' 2009
E.P. 'Baggage' 2011
New album 'Hayes' September 2011
Photos
Bio
Was it ‘An American in Paris’? No, this is about an American in Amsterdam. But the story has elements of a fairy tale too. Picture this; an American tourist in Amsterdam gets bored with staring at the wallpaper of his hotel room and decides to take a stroll through the famous Vondelpark where a young female singer/songwriter is just finishing the last song of her ‘open-air concert’. All he hears is the last verse of the last song. Nevertheless he is very impressed and takes a recording of the young woman home. Friends and music industry professionals listen on his request to the tape and the verdict is unanimous: ‘beautiful, and an enormous potential’.
The American invites Signe Tollefsen to Los Angeles to record a number of songs in Linda Perry’s studio. Two of these recordings, You, Me & the Brewers and My Old Man are included on Signe Tollefsen’ s CoraZong debut album. You, Me & the Brewers features legendary violinist Jerry Goodman, famous for his work with The Flock and John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra.
When the half-American singer moved from the UK to Holland to study music at the Amsterdam Conservatory in 2004, she also started successfully performing for a constantly increasing and, as it turns out, very loyal audiences. As a support act for established artists Signe is very much in demand too. She shared the stage with amongst others Alela Diane, Ane Brun, David Sylvian, and former Pavement member Stephen Malkmus with whom she performed in Germany and Italy.
Signe’s music has already been noticed by well-known musicians such as famous Dutch chanteuse Mathilde Santing, who recorded Sweet Tears for her latest album. In 2006 Signe Tollefsen was both the winner of the Best Musician Award and got most votes from the audience at the Grote Prijs van Nederland, Holland’s most prestigious New Talent competition for Alternative Music. Her music is often described as “Folk Noir”.
From the first note in It Smells of You, with a beautiful contribution on pedal steel guitar from Urban Dance Squad member René van Barneveld until the very last note of This Is It, you are listening to an extremely gifted artist. This is it, but we already want more!
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Van Signe-met-bloemetjes naar Signe-met-ballen, dat is in de notendop het nieuwste album Hayes van de Nederlandse/Amerikaanse zangeres Signe Tollefsen dat op 23 september uitkomt (Cavalier / V2). Sporen van haar naamloze debuut CD en haar cover E.P. Baggage klinken door, terwijl Signe haar horizon van akoestisch naar elektrisch verlegt. Wat er echter ook verandert, één ding blijft hetzelfde: als vanouds trekt ze alle registers open en put ze uit de punten van haar tenen, uit het diepst van haar longen, uit alle kamers van haar hart. Het leidde er al toe dat ze er bij de Grote Prijs vandoor ging met de publieks- én juryprijs, dat Mathilde Santing een van haar nummers coverde, dat ze op tournee ging met onder meer Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus en dat in De Wereld Draait Door tafelheer Jan Mulder zelfs volledig van zijn stuk raakte. ‘Zó bloedmooi,’ kon hij nog slechts stamelen.
Hayes is opgenomen in de studio van Linda Perry (Four Non Blondes) en Ralph Timmermans (Mindpark). Laatgenoemde produceerde het album samen met Signe en gezamelijk nemen ze ook de meeste instrumenten voor hun rekening. ‘Een magische samenwerking’ volgens Signe zelf, die leidde tot een minstens zo magische plaat, waarop ze flirtend, grommend, fluisterend of op de toppen van haar longen nog het allerkleinste haartje op je arm rechtovereind laat staan.
'Intens en meeslepend…..een dijk van een stem …prachtig' album (Heaven)
Contact: Cavalier Music Management / Bert de Ruiter
info@cavalier-musicmanagement.com. Tel. +31 (0)251235420 - www.cavalier-musicmanagement.com
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