Norwegian rock songstress ISSA recently released her fifth, and arguably most compelling album, Run With the Pack, through Frontiers Music. It is a vocal tour de force that highlights the soaring melodic power of singer/songwriter Issa Oversveen, who has fronted her own band for the past decade, released a spate of critically acclaimed melodic rock albums, building an every-increasing legion of fans throughout Europe and her adopted home of the United Kingdom.
With enough of a hard rock edge to appeal to that clientele, but with the production values and dynamic hooks of the best pop music, Run With the Pack crosses genres effortlessly, yet retains an authenticity and emotional intensity that is rare to experience in this day and age. ISSA herself, while still in her early 30s, possesses the gravitas and grandeur of an experienced touring and recording artist, yet maintains a youthful ebullience that was captured marvellously in the studio.
A testament to his remarkable talent, versatility and prodigious work ethic, Run With the Pack was composed primarily by Frontiers in-house producer and songwriting maven Alessandro Del Vecchio, who seems to have the uncanny ability to know just exactly the type of tone, tempo and tenor of a song to fit the artist for whom it is being written. The way Oversveen’s voice and emotive skills mesh with the melodies and in many instances the words of Del Vecchio is indicative of the professionalism and skill of both members of the artistic partnership.
“I had a new baby and my life was really busy, so Frontiers was amazing and took a lot of the responsibility off me from the amount of writing and arranging I did on my previous album, Crossfire [2015]. And this time around we didn’t have any time limits. It didn’t have to be finished by such and such a time, so it ended up being about two years from start to finish. It’s been a really interesting experience. Alessandro was a huge part of the album. He took charge in terms of working with the band and a lot of the recording of the album. I felt like I could take my time this time, whereas for other albums there were strict deadlines,” said Oversveen, adding that Del Vecchio also played keyboards on the album.
“There was so much flexibility because I just couldn’t go into the studio with this little baby all the time. So, I would go in when I had time, for short periods of time and we honestly just finished up a few weeks ago. I had worked with Alessandro before, we did my third album together [Can’t Stop, 2012] and we know each other well. You can discuss things a little bit more when you work with somebody you already know, you can be more honest and say what you do and don’t like. Because we know each other so well, Alessandro and I do great work together. I think he knows me, he knows what I want, and he was great during the whole process. He has been a great partner to have on this album, absolutely.”
The result of the patient, comprehensive and caring approach to Run With the Pack is a collection of 11 melodic rock masterworks, infused with ISSA’s powerful, compelling, charming and evocative voice – a voice that can convey innocence, passion, desire, strength and elegance in equal measure.
“I am super happy. What we wanted to achieve with this album I think we accomplished. I wanted to do a bit of a darker edged album. I wanted to go back to the feel of my first album [2010’s Sign of Angels]. To not be in charge like I normally a was quite different but I am just so, so happy because we did take our time and we could kind of spend extra time to tweak the songs and make sure that we were happy with everything,” Oversveen said.
“To be honest, this is really the first album that I feel 100 per cent happy with everything. You always sit back when you’re doing an album and are always thinking about things you should be doing – I should have done this with a song, the key should have been this for that song, so you are always second guessing. But for this one I am just absolutely super happy with the final result. I just feel like there is nothing I would go back and change. I am really excited about getting it out there for people to hear.”
The artist who would become ISSA, Isabell Oversveen was born and raised in Norway, but has lived in the northern English city of York for the past few years with her husband James Marlin from the U.K. band Vega. A love for music and a desire to sing and perform has been a constant part of her life, and from an early age, Oversveen knew she wanted to be a musician and vocalist as a vocation.
“I don’t think there was one single moment in my life where I wasn’t wanting to do music. As far back as I can remember I used to get paid by my parents to be quiet because I was constantly singing. I remember listening to the radio all the time and trying to tape songs perfectly off the radio with my little tape recorder. I would create my own music shows. I just loved music and singing. I think it’s who I was and who I still am,” she said.
“It’s just been a huge part of my life. I started out in cover bands and did a lot of work with that. Growing up I was influenced by the music that my parents were listening to which was the pop and rock music of the 1980s and into the 1990s, so I loved all that big vocals and all that stuff. I loved singing all those songs with the cover bands, but really enjoyed doing the rock songs. Eventually about 10 years ago I decided I wanted to be an artist on my own and do my own music. And that’s what I have done, and now I am so happy to be releasing my fifth album.”
Norway is generally associated with black metal and death metal music and Oversveen said she has many friends and fellow musicians back in Norway who are in those sorts of bands.
“Obviously coming from Norway, I do have a lot of friends that are into that kind of music, all kinds of metal music actually. But I never wanted to do metal. I wanted to do more straight-ahead rock, or hard rock. I love metal, I think it’s great and I have done several projects where I have been asked to do guest vocals on a lot of different things and a lot of my friends are into it but that wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. This is where I want to be,” she said.
“In my late teens and early 20s I was in a really huge cover band and it was great pay and I got to go on stage all the time and I just loved it. It was a good start to my career and a lot of my friends who were musicians were involved in that cover band scene were doing metal music on the side. It’s a huge thing in Norway, but it’s not huge commercially. All the musicians doing cover bands have their own metal bands, but if you turn on the radio, you’re not going to hear it.”
Although she did not compose as much on Run With the Pack as on previous albums, the song Sacrifice Me is one where she did write the lyrics and melody, inspired by an international mega-hit television series.
“I as watching Game of Thrones a lot and got inspiration from that. It really helped me set the scene for the song. In general, I write about life. Life is quite funny and interesting, but sometimes it can be hard to get inspiration from everyday life, at least it is for me. I am not a super emotional person, but I do try to take what is going on in my life and put it into my music. Because I have my son Sebastian now, I took a lot of inspiration from that. Obviously, your life changes in massive ways when you have a child. It gives you a lot to think about though. In general, I think as you get older life can give you inspiration all the time. There are a lot of huge emotional things that you take in and bring to bear in the music,” she explained, adding that she was thrilled to find out that Del Vecchio had decided to add a second vocal to that song, enlisting former Journey drummer and current member of both The Revolution Saints and The Dead Daisies, Deen Castronovo.
“My vocals that you hear on the record, I just recorded them on my own and sent them off to Alessandro, which is what we did a lot of the time. And he was working with Deen at the time and later on he sent me the track back with Deen on it as well. So, yeah, I guess Deen liked the song and wanted to be on it. Deen sent a funny little video to me, because he wanted his part to be a surprise. He is a really funny guy and a very nice guy. I think Deen just happened to be there at that moment, heard the song and they came up with the idea of putting his vocals on it. It’s just one of those cool things that can happen in this business.”
Oversveen said she is hopeful to perform as much as being a mom of a two-year-old will allow, although she is unsure if ISSA will make it across the Atlantic for any shows in North America.
“I would love to come to North America. I did the Frontiers Festival in Italy and I want to do a U.K. tour, but we haven’t quite put it together yet. It is difficult. I don’t want to do a big tour in a van and just sleep on people’s floors and stuff like that, not with a little child. We’re trying to get on festival bills and things like that. We’ll see what happens. I am just very happy to finally have this album out for people to listen to,” she said.
For more information on ISSA, the new album Run With the Pack and any upcoming tour dates, visit https://www.facebook.com/issasite.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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