TALK TO ME LIKE HUMANS DO
Prog|Issue 145
On the follow-up to 2020's more traditional Folkesange, Myrkur's Amalie Bruun has created an experimental album of contrasts that takes the listener on a journey through motherhood and bereavement. Bruun tells Prog about the healing power of Spine and the life changes that inspired it.
Cheri Faulkner
TALK TO ME LIKE HUMANS DO

The journey into motherhood can be a tumultuous one. Combine that with losing someone close and you might find a strong need to redefine yourself in a brand-new era of your life. Just ask Myrkur, real name Amalie Bruun, who is returning with her fourth studio album, Spine.

“I had a child [since the release of Folkesange] which is about as big a change as it can be,” she says. “I had to find myself in that new life and that new role, and I went through a long period of not even wanting to play any music.”

Bruun speaks of the adjustment to motherhood that saw her struggling to connect with her music – she didn’t write anything new for over a year. “I went through a lot of changes and growth,” she explains. “That led me to feel inspired to write Spine and that became a healing process for me.”

Prog speaks with Bruun openly and frankly about the difficulties of becoming a mother, of intertwining your life before with your new life, and maintaining your self-identity – to which she nods knowingly. “Someone told me that if your life before becoming a mother had very little to do with the concept of being a mother or attending to somebody else, then it can be even harder,” she explains. “I’ve just always been kind of a loner, you know?”

She elaborates further and explains that before having her child, she would only really worry about her music. “That’s why it was an even bigger change, creating a life and then being entirely responsible, and all I can think about is this new baby. That was a really tough change for me to find my ground to stand on after that.”

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