British romantic Tom McRae has just fired off his fifth album upon the world: ‘Alphabet of Hurricanes’. Just as on his previous albums, we hear songs that penetrate deep into the soul, son...

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British romantic Tom McRae has just fired off his fifth album upon the world: ‘Alphabet of Hurricanes’. Just as on his previous albums, we hear songs that penetrate deep into the soul, songs about luck in love but also the associated pain. Tom again elevates himself to unseen heights with his soft, fragile voice. His fantasies are far removed from the often airy entertainment that characterises the current decade. He often names performers like Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and the just recently deceased Vic Chesnutt, as sources of inspiration but British author Simon Armitage (who provided McRae's PR texts this time) speaks above all of ‘a lexicon of the soul’s meteorology’. We couldn't have worded it better ourselves.

After a brilliant concert in the Cirque Royal this spring, he'll be visiting the Dranouter Festival this summer and will then treat the fans again on Monday 11 October, this time in the AB.

Support act will be American singer-songwriter Brian Wright (short for Brian Wright & The Waco Tragedies). His most recent solo album is titled ‘House On Fire’. His songs are deeply rooted in American musical traditions.

That dark baritone ... those pitch-black lyrics ... those wall-to-wall arrangements ... that must be Sivert Höyem. Who? Sivert was the impressive frontman of the unfortunately now defunct Madrugada. With Madrugada he bestowed humanity with 6 albums, of which ‘Grit’ (2002) and ‘The Deep End’ (2005) managed to earn and eternal place in our record cabinet. On his own, he now has 3 albums to his name. The most recent album is the acclaimed ‘Moon Landing’. The Cutting Edge website wrote of it: ‘Even just his dark, soothing and velvety voice, loaded with sadness and longing, already almost guarantees a fine album’.

The Sivert Höyem concert is a part of a large-scale, year-end, Norwegian offensive organised by the AB, Bozar and Cinematek... all under the title of Norway Now. So there are more than enough good reasons to head down to the AB on time on Monday 11 October, as Höyem will already be on stage at 7pm, on the dot.