Heidi Mortenson
Encyclopedia
Heidi Mortenson is a Danish electronic composer
, singer and producer
. Heidi is performing live as a onewomanband building up songs by sampling her voice through efx pedals imitating instruments and singing.
Heidi grew up listening to the metallic sounds of her dad repairing cars and her mother playing the organ.
Heidi moved to Barcelona and started to experiment with sound and acoustics.
After playing her first concert Mortenson was selected Resident Artist 2003 at the annual experimental LEM Festival in Barcelona
. Hereafter she went on a European tour with visual artist SOLU, with whom she later performed the Opening Act of Transmediale
Festival 2004 in Berlin.
That same year Heidi moved to Berlin where she started working on her debut album.
The record label Wired Records
was founded by Mortenson in 2005 when she was to release her debut album with money she had received from a fund.
Mortenson's style is not easy to categorize as her songs are unbound to any specific genre. The cassette tape release Circular Tape is made from using a microphone and 7 effect pedals. The sound source being Heidi's voice. The songs are recorded using instant composing style; meaning Mortenson recorded these pieces onto one track without arrangement or preparation. The simple yet effective intention is to play music and document what happens.
Mortenson has toured Canada and the US east and west coast with her first two album releases. The Danish music magazine Musiktidsskriftet Geiger selected her album Don't Lonely Me as one of the 100 Best Albums of 2007. The song Hurt Machine from Don't Lonely Me is featured on the popular American / Canadian TV series The L Word
in season 6.07.
Mortenson and American musician and performer Kevin Blechdom
have often performed together and collaborated on several radio shows.
Mortenson has also released 300 handpainted vinyl records. The handpainted EP Diamonds & Underwear is featured in Hilda Magazine.
Mortenson gained attention from her concert at the SPOT Festival 2008 which got good reviews by the press. The music magazine Gaffa
credited her 5 stars, Musiktidsskriftet Geiger wrote "overall probably the best concert of this year's SPOT festival and musically absolutely the bravest", the UK Telegraph stated "if Madonna really wants to start pushing popular music into new areas she should forget working with established American production talents like Timbaland and give this mad Dane a call"
Mortenson is also working as a producer for other bands and can on rare occasions be seen playing with her bearded band The Uncontrollables.
Mortenson speaks several languages: she is fluent in English, Spanish and Danish, and also speaks some German and mixed Norwegian/Swedish. In a 2007 interview, Mortenson revealed that she has Asperger syndrome
, like her father and grandfather.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, singer and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Heidi is performing live as a onewomanband building up songs by sampling her voice through efx pedals imitating instruments and singing.
Heidi grew up listening to the metallic sounds of her dad repairing cars and her mother playing the organ.
Heidi moved to Barcelona and started to experiment with sound and acoustics.
After playing her first concert Mortenson was selected Resident Artist 2003 at the annual experimental LEM Festival in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Hereafter she went on a European tour with visual artist SOLU, with whom she later performed the Opening Act of Transmediale
Transmediale
transmediale is an annual festival for media art and digital culture taking place for one week in February in Berlin, Germany. The festival engages in reflective, aesthetic and speculative positions in between art, technology and culture...
Festival 2004 in Berlin.
That same year Heidi moved to Berlin where she started working on her debut album.
The record label Wired Records
Wired Records
Wired Records is a record label based in Berlin and is run by Heidi Mortenson and Camille Saunders. It was founded by Heidi in 2005 when releasing "Wired Stuff" - the debut album of Heidi Mortenson, with money that she had received from a fund. The label originally started out as a series of events...
was founded by Mortenson in 2005 when she was to release her debut album with money she had received from a fund.
Mortenson's style is not easy to categorize as her songs are unbound to any specific genre. The cassette tape release Circular Tape is made from using a microphone and 7 effect pedals. The sound source being Heidi's voice. The songs are recorded using instant composing style; meaning Mortenson recorded these pieces onto one track without arrangement or preparation. The simple yet effective intention is to play music and document what happens.
Mortenson has toured Canada and the US east and west coast with her first two album releases. The Danish music magazine Musiktidsskriftet Geiger selected her album Don't Lonely Me as one of the 100 Best Albums of 2007. The song Hurt Machine from Don't Lonely Me is featured on the popular American / Canadian TV series The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
in season 6.07.
Mortenson and American musician and performer Kevin Blechdom
Kevin Blechdom
Kevin Blechdom, born Kristin Erickson, is an American experimental electronic musician/performance artist from San Francisco, California.-Life and career:...
have often performed together and collaborated on several radio shows.
Mortenson has also released 300 handpainted vinyl records. The handpainted EP Diamonds & Underwear is featured in Hilda Magazine.
Mortenson gained attention from her concert at the SPOT Festival 2008 which got good reviews by the press. The music magazine Gaffa
Gaffa (magazine)
Gaffa is a free Danish music magazine, published on a monthly basis since 1983. The magazine is distributed to places such as educational institutions, record shops, libraries and cafés, as well as a small number to paying subscribers...
credited her 5 stars, Musiktidsskriftet Geiger wrote "overall probably the best concert of this year's SPOT festival and musically absolutely the bravest", the UK Telegraph stated "if Madonna really wants to start pushing popular music into new areas she should forget working with established American production talents like Timbaland and give this mad Dane a call"
Mortenson is also working as a producer for other bands and can on rare occasions be seen playing with her bearded band The Uncontrollables.
Trivia
In the start of her career, Heidi used only her second name Mortenson and (reversed) Nosnetrom to mask her gender.Mortenson speaks several languages: she is fluent in English, Spanish and Danish, and also speaks some German and mixed Norwegian/Swedish. In a 2007 interview, Mortenson revealed that she has Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, like her father and grandfather.
Discography
- "Circular Tape" Wired Records (2010)
- "Diamonds & Underwear" Wired Records (2008)
- "Don't Lonely Me" Wired Records (2007)
- "Wired Stuff" Wired Records (2006)