Sophie Hunger
Switzerland’s Sophie Hunger is set to return with her third album The Danger of Light, released in the UK on 28 January 2013.
Sophie will play London Jazz Cafe on November 9 2012 in support of her new album and lead single LikeLikeLike (out November 26).
The release of The Danger of Light follows a characteristically prolific 2012 for Sophie.
In Spring she produced and staged a one-man show entitled 'Bob Dylan - Be Part of My Dream' in Paris, a run which was reprised this Summer at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Hunger also took time to contribute to Cornelia Rainer’s play ‘Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz‘ at the Salzburger Festspiele.
Amidst these commitments, Sophie recorded the new album (her third studio release) in sessions between Europe and America, with an eclectic roll call of contributors including Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Nathaniel Walcott (Bright Eyes) and Steven Nistor (Danger Mouse).
With Adam Samuels (Warpaint, John Frusciante) at the production helm, The Danger of Light further evidences the precosity which Sophie has hitherto made her creative blueprint.
Raised the daughter of a diplomat between homes in Switzerland, Germany and the UK, and weaned on an idiosyncratic musical diet of classical music and jazz, Hunger‘s less than ordinary life is reflected across her work.
She recorded her first album ’Sketches By The Sea‘ in her own front room, and went on to sell several thousand copies through word of mouth alone. Her subsequent studio release ’Monday’s Ghost‘ and ’1983‘ both went to Number 1 in the Swiss album charts.
In 2012 Hunger appeared on the John Peel Glastonbury Stage, which in no mean feat saw her become the first Swiss artist to ever play the festival. Hunger is also a keen political commentator, and has long contributed critically acclaimed columns to the German newspaper De Zeit.
The Danger of Light is in some respects every inch the album you’d hope for from such a ferociously intelligent talent, with lyrics seguing seamlessly between languages, admist climatic instrumental breaks which are peppered with muted brass and intricate guitar figures.
And yet, there is still an inherent accessibility across these tracks - it’s there in the urgent piano chimes of ’Rerevolution‘, the downtempo shimmer of ’Can You See Me?‘ and not least on lead track ’LikeLikeLike‘, a rather disarmingly guiless declaration of love from a complex and compelling artist.