Bladed is vocalist, composer and producer Anita Kaasbøll's solo project. It started in 2004 as an improvisation duo with guitarist Stian Westerhus while studying at the jazz conservatory in Trondheim, since then Kaasbøll has collaborated with a collection of Norway's most distinctive and creative musicians. Bladed has always gone beyond genre boundaries and constantly explored new expressions and soundscapes within a wide pop/rock format. Bladed is now releasing its fourth album, "The Ballad Of The Hammer And The Nail". Like "Once We Were Wild" and "Halloween In Bagamoyo," the album was written in collaboration with lyricist Thomas Oxem. During recording and mixing, Anita Kaasbøll worked closely with musician and producer Kenneth Ishak from Beezewax, Heyerdahl, Universet and more. In addition, Beezewax guitarist Mattias Krohn Nielsen and saxophonist Dario Fariello contribute on a couple of the songs. Kaasbøll and Ishak have arranged and produced the nine songs together, giving the record a consistently analog and unpolished quality. The instrumentation is more restrained than on the previous releases and leaves more space for Kaasbøll's distinctive vocals and strong melodies. The compositions have a clear reference to art music and use these elements in an indie pop frame. With the vocals as the pivotal element of the composition, the music has evolved towards a more organic and low-key expression, it’s been about toning down the loud implements without loss of energy, about shouting with a soft voice. The lyrics range from the naïve and the satirical, to quotes and allegories that refer to sources of inspiration in art, psychoanalytic symbolism and classical literature. And they deal with topics such as love for the nature and cultural landscape of Vesterålen, global resource distribution, an almost accepted everyday racism, identity crisis, Peter Pan syndrome and alienation, in addition to the shock and grief after the sudden loss of a close friend. "The Ballad Of The Hammer And The Nail" is a low-key and unpolished album about grief, prejudice, topophilia, that something will give in and shouting with a soft voice.