Rebekka Karijord - Mother Tongue (2017)

Quite often, important and vivid art is derived from trauma of one kind or another, and the end product is the result of processing exactly what, why and how things happened. The clue here is in the album title, as Norwegian songwriter, soundtrack composer, playwright and short-story writer Rebekka Karijord documents the premature birth (at six months) of her first child. Veering between blissfully upbeat (The Orbit), seriously poppy (Your Name), purposefully experimental (I Will Follow You into the Wild is incomprehensible to all but Karijord, surely), delicately folksy (Six Careful Hands) and almost religious (Mausoleum), Mother Tongue showcases an artist whose creative expressiveness is in keeping with her instinctive role as a sensible communicator.