Anna Ternheim

In moments of introspection, the Swedish singer/songwriter Anna Ternheim, known for her folk leanings, evokes the presence of compatriot Sophie Zelmani, while her emotionally charged, urgent compositions for piano at times echo the approach of Coldplay alongside a measure of Dido’s style. That broadly informed sonic character, combined with her choice to record in English, helped secure widespread international praise once her second full-length project appeared.

Ternheim’s earliest releases, a pair of EPs issued by Only Records, surfaced in 2003. Stockholm Records soon signed her, and the label issued her breakthrough effort, Somebody Outside, in 2004. The album received multiple Swedish Grammy nominations and brought her the Best Newcomer trophy. A subsequent contract with Universal paved the way for the 2006 release of Separation Road, which earned two Swedish Grammys. Two years later an alternate edition of that album reached American listeners as her U.S. debut, Halfway to Fivepoints.

Although Ternheim achieved only modest visibility in the United States, her fourth album, Leaving on a Mayday, released in 2008, solidified her stature in Sweden by capturing the Album of the Year award at the 2009 Swedish Grammys. During the same span her music was licensed for the Swedish series Wallander as well as the American shows Dollhouse, One Tree Hill, and Grey’s Anatomy. Her fifth album, the country-tinged The Night Visitor, was tracked in Nashville and issued worldwide in 2011. For the Young, which arrived in 2015, adopted a leaner format that blended shadowy folk elements with atmospheric textures and featured guitarist Marc Ribot. After the 2016 concert recording Live in Stockholm, Ternheim reentered the studio to create the stylistically broader All the Way to Rio, which appeared in 2017.