The strikingly heartbreaking "She Really Doesn't Love You" by Aleksander Waaktaar

AP Track Review

On the strikingly heartbreaking She Really Doesn't Love You, by Norwegian singer songwriter, arranger, composer Aleksander Waaktaar, there are actual moments that don't feel sad despite the cold face in the water slap of the title. The verses with it's sort of Wedding walk up to the preacher cadence and the simple, even whimsical melodies made me feel that it could be a song meant for a child. The country church chorale sound that come in feels fundamentally knowing and reminds me of some of David Byrne's style. The words stretched out and pausing for big round eyes to focus on. Then in what I can only describe as a kind of "sky opening up" glorious barrage of sounds / chorus of voices the heavy heart breaking chorus "she really doesn't love you" falls like a dozen angles voices with wings fluttering. After maybe the ninth listen, I started to feel irony and maybe even a sardonic flavor here. I mean, is the person saying these sad words saying the hard, impenetrable truth to set someone free or just cruel words to hurt someone or are they words being said as one looks in the mirror? I don't know Aleksander Waaktaar though and so don't know how deep or shallow any cynicism runs inside his veins but in the end, I suppose, it is more important how each one of us feels as we listen. 

She Really Doesn't Love You is the first track from Aleksander Waaktaar's debut album "All Wrong"

-
Robb Donker




THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

Aleksander Waaktaar is originally a composer and arranger with a background in classical and jazz composition, and has among others worked with the Oslo Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) and the Arctic Philharmonic. He has amongst other things written the orchestral and choral arrangements for the 2018 release “Heights of the Reeds” with Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang, which was nominated for the norwegian grammys in 2019. Now, Waaktaar is breaching the surface as a solo artist with the single "She Really Doesn’t Love You”, the first track from his debut album “All Wrong”.

As a composer, Waaktaar mostly works with instrumental music, exploring the boundaries between jazz, classical and contemporary, often with a quiet and somber expression. But as a singer/songwriter he writes songs with expressive, solitude lyrics in an experimental and intense soundscape.

“She Really Doesn’t Love You” is produced by guitarist Martin Miguel Almagro Tonne from Pom Poko and is combining Waaktaars classical songwriting with Alamagros limitless and creative indie-production. The significant 9-piece album “All Wrong” is set for release April 24th on Koke Plate