The Danish singer, songwriter, musician and composer Nina Baun is a versatile artist who with curiosity and openness within jazz, pop, and contemporary composition, and in doing so creates her own personal musical amalgam. Following three previous singles, Baun today releases her new EP Status, her first solo release in 10 years and a work in which she evaluates her being in the middle of life and looks both backward and forward.
Nina Baun states in connection with the EP release: “This release is both the end of a process and the start of something new. The release show last Sunday marked that shift. It was the first time the band and I played the music live together, and it felt alive and completely right! Now the EP is out, and we can’t wait to bring the music to stages around the country.”
In 2011, NINA BAUN released her debut album Something Is Always Moving, followed in 2016 by her second album Human. Both records received positive reviews in Danish as well as international press. With these releases, Baun established herself as a progressive and experimental singer and songwriter, who naturally combined jazz, pop, and experimental composition into a personal whole.
Alongside, she remained musically active, as lead singer in Peter Danstrup’s various ensembles, as backing vocalist for vs DOOM, Oh Land, Andreas Odbjerg, and Turboweekend, on tour with Norwegian/American guitarist Lage Lund, and through collaborations with a wide range of musicians from the Danish jazz, improvised, and indie scenes.
After many years of being a creative solo artist, a period emerged with steady work, family life, and musical engagements in other people’s projects. But as time passed, her longing to create returned. This longing has now materialized into the EP Status, where Baun reflects on her life and connects past with present through five songs that explore themes such as identity, existence, time, and change. On Status, Baun has teamed up with drummer and producer Rune Lohse (New Kids, Blue Foundation, Horse Orchestra), who together with guitarist Mads Nørgaard (Lucky Lo, The Orgelheimers) and bassist Nicolai Claesson (Horse Orchestra, Billie and the Bell) form Baun’s new band.
Her new music is not only a further development of her earlier work, but also a revelation of the driving force that matters most to her right now: to create music that is personal and genuine. Her project continues to be driven by openness and curiosity, searching and investigation, but now with a clear focus on process and creation rather than product and external recognition. Baun returns with a new sense of calm and clearity about her artistic purpose, lifted and supported by a group of attentive musicians.
Status contains both Danish and English lyrics, and explores themes such as identity, existence, time, and change. First and foremost, the lyrics contain a reflection on Baun’s own journey – both as a human being and as an artist. The new music reflects Nina’s life journey – into the music, and out again - the longing for art, and back again, but now on her own premises. Thus, with Status, Nina Baun gives a personal picture of how we exist in time – as the same, but always on the way to becoming someone else.