As Farao, Kari Jahnsen has experimented with a range of electronic-acoustic palettes, setting her textured arrangements within indie folk, alt-pop, orchestral rock, glossier electronica settings, and combinations thereof.
With her third album, Magical Thinking, she leans into an R&B-inflected alternative dance sensibility that falls on the sleeker extreme of her output thus far, although it should be noted that both she and producer Ådne Meisfjord (120 Days) are credited with beats, synths, percussion, and, last but not least, zither. So, she hasn’t left her blended, psychedelic-leaning approach behind. It also isn’t entirely club-friendly. The album was recorded between Berlin and Oslo, Jahnsen’s former and re-adopted base, respectively.
Tag Archive: Farao
Pure-O, the new LP by Berlin-via-Norway musician Kari Jahnsen aka Farao, is a prog-pop exposition on the curious dichotomy between beauty and destructiveness in sex and relationships. Where so much modern pop attempts to tug similar thematic threads only to succumb to naiveté and euphemism, Jahnsen grabs these subjects and dives headlong into a neon pool of synthesizer, zither, drums, and soaring vocals without sacrificing maturity, complexity, or artistry.
Musically, she references 90’s R&B, and the untapped goldmine of Soviet disco. But the most important pillar of Pure-O– its living, breathing, biological quality– is entirely Farao’s own. To be sure, all of the electronic ingredients are in the exact right places on Pure-O.
Well, in all fairness, he DID title it Self-Portrait...