(Vocal Jazz) Kira Skov - When We Were Gentle - 2013, MP3, 320 kbps

WHEN WE WERE GENTLE is a collection of ten songs, some written by Kira and some in collaboration with her husband, bassist Nicolai Munch-Hansen; a handful of musical poems about life and love. The songs were recorded with musicians whom Kira has worked with on her most recent releases, musicians with the same borderless approach to genres as Kira herself. The dividing lines between jazz, rock and pop fade away in image-evoking music where Oliver Hoiness' guitar and Simon Toldam's keyboards are broad but precise brush stro- kes on a musical canvas. Nicolai Munch-Hansen's upright bass is a deep, rich founda- tion in interplay with RJ Miller's and John Parish's delicately percussive drumming. “My ongoing collaboration with my husband, Nicolai Munch-Hansen, continues to challenge my development as a songwriter. His unique composing talent is expressed in everything he does. We collaborated on most of the music for this album. Oliver Hoiness is one of this country's most imaginative and uncompromising guitarists. He never chooses the easy road, and our interplay and common musical understanding continues to grow. RJ Miller is a sparkling free drummer, with whom I have had the great pleasure of working under the flag of jazz in recent years. He has helped bridge my various musical worlds. Simon Toldam is a wonderful pianist and sound artist. A genuine scoop! Our achievements together on this release make me very proud.” John Parish is the intuitive producer of the album. The British producer and multi- instrumentalist regards Kira as one of the great vocalists of our time, so he didn't have to consider before accepting the assignment. They previously worked together on the album LOOK UP AHEAD. Parish is known for his close collaboration as producer and musician with PJ Harvey. He brought technician Paul Corkett – known for his work with The Cure and Nick Cave - to the STC Studio in Copenhagen. “I have enormous respect for John Parish as a person, musician and producer, and since working with him for Island in 2010, I have hoped to have the pleasure again someday. John is a huge resource. His calm, his focus, and his special sense of sound brings the best out in me, the band and the material while retaining the original sen- sibility and vulnerability from the demos that I sent him during the process prior to recording. John introduced us to Paul Corkett, yet another unasuming, hard-working Englishman, and a fantastic technician. It was a true pleasure to have him with us and to experience the two of them working together in the studio.” Kira is a curious artist, continuously on the move, seeking new paths – but never lea- ving you in doubt. This is Kira, Kira's voice, Kira's world. This release combines the musical expressions from her earlier work with a more free approach to her material, with elements from all the idioms, in a subdued, reflective universe of music and lyrics. Few have Kira's talent for communicating feelings honestly and unsentimentally, touching a responsive chord of thoughtfulness in us. Songs of longing and disappointment, hope and optimism and, above all, of love… “For all that I hope to be, when my days are done, is someone that shared the wealth, of love inside of me” (Idea of Love)… the newly acquired and the rusty… that, which once was, as in The End: “ This is where it ends bye bye, I ride my singing wheels through endless nights, and I won't stop to look again, for you my long lost friend, now that we're so old, and cold winds blow right through us” … and about love as revealed to the child in Morgan's Serenade: “Into laughter, into sorrow, into the world that awaits you now, hear the singing trees, Morgan's melody, here's your child the river sighed.”