By Charlie Maybee
Norwegian singer-songwriter, Fredrik Saroea (known for his work with disco punk band DATAROCK) has reimagined his 2021 solo album Rona Diaries as a live collaborative album with the award-winning string quartet BIT20 Ensemble titled Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live At The Grieg Hall, Bergen.
Upon reflection, Saroea writes, “I always loved songwriters who managed to do something interesting enough with a stand-alone guitar, vocal melody and piece of confusing and/or interesting lyrics delivered with just enough pathos to pull you in”.
Combining an indie rock ethos with the majesty of more orchestral arrangements, the album is spritely and full of life as it flutters with unplugged unfettering. All the urgency of Rona Diaries translates easily within these new renditions, especially with “Bulletproof Vest” as the leading single. The simultaneous recording and premiering of these musical reimaginings at the 69th annual Bergen International Festival at Grieg Hall in Norway was a surprise to fans who were more familiar with his former band’s rhythmic brand of dance music.
“Musically I suppose the original version – with just me and my guitar – was somewhat inspired by everything from Mark Kozelek’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer’ or ‘What’s Next to the Moon’ to Neil Young’s ‘Harvest Moon’ or Elliott Smith’s ‘Needle in the Hay’” Saroea reflects, “but I guess even very different formative artists are partly to blame for this newly revealed side of my songwriting too; like Flying Saucer Attack’s ‘Land Beyond the Sun’ for instance, or The Smiths’ absolute classics like ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’, ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ or ‘Asleep.”
Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live At The Grieg Hall, Bergen is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Find this and more great music on the Alchemical Record Multigenre Mixture Playlist on Spotify.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
