The winner of Hyundai Nordic Music Prize 2021: Clarissa Connelly
"After a year where the world has been locked down and learned to re-evaluate open spaces and freedom, this is a record that beckons you outdoors. Its fresh and radiant atmosphere, full of wonder and re-enchantment with nature, straddles both the structures and cadences of traditional Nordic folk music with abstract digital experimentation. Adventurous and ambitious, but never bombastic or inaccessible, this is an artist with a foot in two cultures whose music similarly bridges the ancient and modern."
- Stuart Maconie (BBC) on behalf of the jury
"There are absolutely no other artists that sound like Clarissa Connelly. She was already one of our favorites from this year's by:Larm live program, and winning Hyundai Nordic Music Prize is well-deserved icing on the cake. Her signature mix of influences from Viking Age mythology with shades of Enya-esque retro-pop is fresh and alluring, and we're excited to see where her next voyage will be."
- Erik Egenes, by:Larm
About Clarissa Connelly
Clarissa Connelly originally hails from Fife in Scotland, but moved as a child to her mother’s homeland of Denmark. It’s from the latter country’s nature and history that Connelly primarily draws inspiration, along with modern influences like Kate Bush, Enya, Mike Oldfield and Joni Mitchell. The rich cultural heritage and mythology of the Viking Age is woven together with 80s-tinted pop arrangements to form a soundscape unlike any other.
When her album The Voyager was released in November 2020, it was joined by the app Vandringen, created in cooperation with a series of Danish artists. In the app, the user can explore Danish heritage sites and learn about the history behind the sites. The album has received accolades from the underground press, with The Wire naming the album a “fantastic voyage”, while the songs have seen steady rotation at the radio station NTS.
You can experience Clarissa Connelly live during this years by:Larm! Friday 20:30 at St Edmunds Kirke and Saturday 19:30 at BLÅ, don't miss out.
