Maria Solheim - “Over fjellet” / Over the mountain

We all have mountains to climb. Some of us feel that life is filled with climbing sunny peaks, but quite a few of us find that in spite of knowing the mountain code and being prepared, we come across unexpectedly steep mountains, apparently impossible to go around. Up and over is the only way.

Maria Solheim is finally back! Now with her first album in Norwegian. The singles “Sammen med deg” (Together with you) and “Kom vår” (Come spring) have already been well received with good play on the radio. 

“Over fjellet” is an album with many sunrises. An album for spring, it also bears with it memories of a cold and dark winter. 

“I was in a dark valley when I started working on this record. I felt I had lost sight of my path. I was scrolling mindlessly on my phone when this old cliche suddenly popped up on the screen. ‘It’s darkest just before the sun rises’. I sat for a while looking out into space and envisioned a huge mountainside in front of me. It was dark. Believing there could be a sunrise behind the mountain seemed impossible. ‘It’s dark when it’s at its darkest,’ I told myself. What if there are no sunrises for me any more?

Nature is a very recurrent theme on Solheim’s new record.

In the song “Kom vår” she dreams of a warmer world, a spring awakening of the human condition and herself. “Villvinen” (Woodbine) describes the struggle between good and evil in a story about the two mountain flowers woodbine and buttercup. In “Barndomsminne” (Childhood memory) we hear birds in Trysil singing along with the lyrics about a hiking trip along roads in the Vesterålen district in the 1980s.

“I long for a closer connection to nature. I believe that many of us want this, these days when global politics and endless technological innovations overwhelm us. I long back to the mountains, lakes to fish in and rich soil. I miss those places where several generations would meet to have a cup of coffee and sing along in the chapel or community centre. I want to grow potatoes and to compose. That gives life meaning for me. Back to the warmth of togetherness, honest work, working together and ski tracks over the steepest slopes.”

The album was recorded over a week in a cabin in Trysil. Various instruments and vocals were recorded with musicians Christer Garcia Slaaen, Edvard Synnes and Bodvar Tornes. Arne Slaaen managed sound and mixing. Bjørn Engelmann in Cutting Room has mastered. All the songs have been written by Maria Solheim.

The album is being released with support from the Fund for Performing Artists. The writing process has been supported by the Lyric Writer’s Fund, Tono, the Composers’ Remuneration Fund and Arts and Culture Norway.