Through the album’s seven tracks, the titles of which together form a complete text, the music on Dear Body becomes an entire story, like the performance of a musical drama for which the stage has not yet been set. The different moods and soundscapes of the songs propel the story forward, painting a complex picture of pain interspersed with playful simplicity and quiet poetry. It is the love of music, and of making music, that is the driving force here, leading to humility and love for the body. This is what the whole album is about.

The impressionistic sounds, and the simple yet impactful arrangements, are recognisable from previous albums. Harmonies and instrumentation from classical music are transferred to the singer-songwriter form in which Annasara’s clear and intimate voice can be heard on four tracks. The last track includes friend and tenor Martin Vanberg. The other tracks are completely instrumental and, in addition to piano and violin played by Annasara herself, we also hear Amelia Jakobsson on cello, Johan Bridger on marimba and Simon Peterson on double bass. All tracks share a sense of chamber music and an organic sound with songlike phrasings and dynamics.

All music has been written and arranged by Annasara Lundgren. In the title track Dear Body, two themes from the Sibelius Violin Concerto are first woven into the song’s verse and chorus, before being heard instrumentally toward the end.

Annasara Lundgren is a trained classical violinist and worked as a symphonic performer and chamber musician for ten years before focusing on her own songwriting and starting composition studies in 2018. She has since released the albums Till dig som är barn (To You, a Child; 2018), Self Love (2019) and Songs from Sälshög (2020) on her own label Annasongs.

‘Dear body, “In my silence, There’s a heartbeat, Surrounded by love. Let’s play, Dear body, Surrendering, I am not broken.” You are everything, all that we have. You are life, and through you the music is channelled and takes shape. I ask you to keep playing and singing for as long as I exist.’ – Annasara