Emiliana Torrini

In the organizer's words:

A large box under the attic. In it: love letters. Dozens of love letters, from men all over the world, written over decades to a woman whose life was as exciting as it was mysterious.

Emilíana Torrini developed MISS FLOWER, her first solo album in ten years, from this starting point. What sounds like an absurd fairy tale or the opening to a family novel really happened to Torrini: after the death of the mother of one of her closest friends, they found the box of love letters in her apartment, neatly sorted into folders. "She had received nine marriage proposals but never got married," says Torrini, "we started reading some of these letters, mostly, but not only, from men. They were pretty obsessed with her, totally smitten." Laughing and howling, they worked their way through the letters, reading in amazement that the mother, Geraldine Flower, after whom the album is named, had a part-time job as a teenager walking a lion cub through London's cemeteries at night. Or that a man wrote to her saying that he thought of her when he mowed the lawn. "It had such a sixties sexiness," says Torrini and laughs, "I asked my girlfriend if I could make a song about it."

She was allowed to. Conveniently, her girlfriend is married to Emilíana Torrini's long-time keyboardist and songwriting partner Simon Byrt. In their small home studio in the garden, with Geraldine's dog at their feet, they take inspiration from the letter and develop a song from it. And they never stopped: they pulled more and more letters and stories out of the box and were inspired to create new songs, new narratives, but also new soundscapes and soundscapes. This is how MISS FLOWER was created over two years. "It was supposed to be a pop record, we wanted to do it differently," recalls Torrini. They weave the narratives into each other, one song can be based on dozens of letters from one person. Each song is different in terms of sound and structure. Of course, they refer to very different people and characters: "Sometimes I had the feeling that even my accent was changing." The pieces are held together by Emilíana Torrini's unmistakable voice, the focus on electronic elements and a unique mixture of melancholy and humor.

"Lady K", for example, is a danceable, triphop-inspired piece that refers to a story from letters written by Geraldine's great love and is named after the boat on which they vacationed together. "Black Water", on the other hand, is a hypnotic piece full of mysterious tension, in which Torrini moves from an intimate recitation of letters from a presumed American lover into dreamy, distorted vocals that shimmer as if painted with watercolors. "The Golden Thread" dramatically tells the story of an ex-partner in Australia who describes to her in passionate letters how he thinks about her incessantly - even when he is in bed with his new partner. A highlight of the album, however, is undoubtedly "Let's Keep Dancing", a melancholy uptempo track that cites a last dance, a last evening before a break-up. Its beat structure is not without reason reminiscent of the sound of steel drums from the Caribbean: it is inspired by a Caribbean ex-boyfriend of Geraldine's from her time in the Bahamas. It is also to remain the only duet on the album - with a duet partner from the past: Torrini and Byrt sample a song here that this ex-boyfriend of Geraldine's had recorded for them. "But we couldn't find him for over two years," she recalls. They didn't want to use his song without talking to him first, but all attempts to find the man failed. "But we didn't give up - and then, when the album was almost finished, an email arrived from him!" He not only allowed them to sample the song, but also to use an altered image of him and Geraldine for the album cover. A small miracle, says Torrini.

Of course, Geraldine Flowers' voice, her perspective, was missing, says the musician. Until, shortly before the end of the recordings, her friend Zoe, the daughter of the mythical Geraldine Flower, found a poem she had written dedicated to her great love. Torrini records the poem and adds a new part: "As if I had written it with her. It was so important to me to have this piece. Now I knew we could finish the album." Even though it was anything but easy for her to finish the project. There were still so many letters waiting, so many stories she could have lost herself in. But: it was time to let go.

Using the medium of "biographical fiction", as Torrini calls the project, she approaches the wonderful Miss Flower through the eyes of her lovers. In doing so, she tells a story of love and desire, but also of independence, freedom and self-determination: "These letters have definitely opened my eyes. Geraldine was an incredibly courageous woman - especially at the time. You can rediscover yourself in her letters." But MISS FLOWER is also a celebration of the imagination and friendship between Torrini and Geraldine's daughter Zoe Flower, and her trust in allowing her friend to use her mother's legacy as the starting point for an experimental, imaginative, colorful and always loving pop album.

Independence and freedom: these are also major themes for Emilíana Torrini. The musician with Italian-Icelandic roots has been active since the mid-nineties. And has always attached great importance to being able to live out her art independently and self-determinedly. In the past ten years, for example, in which she has not released a solo album, she has been anything but idle, recording numerous features, taking part in unusual projects and venturing into musical experiments with old and new friends. "I felt so restricted by the music industry. When I was on stage, I thought about how I was doing my laundry. That's when I knew it was time to take a break. And decided to say 'yes' to all the requests that came in. And did things that were out of my comfort zone. I felt like I had to do something that excited me again." The exercise worked and Emilíana Torrini fell in love with music again.

MISS FLOWER is the result of this rekindled love of music. Playful and free, experimental and grown-up, Emilíana Torrini dives into the most diverse worlds, living great love stories, small dramas and the most intense lives in the individual tracks. In doing so, she not only builds a monument to the inimitable Geraldine Flower, but also to female self-determination and independence.

Price information:

33€ plus fee.