Norwegian artist Susanna And The Brotherhood Of Our Lady for her upcoming record work their magic together on new single ‘Ecstasy X’, which is taken from new LP Garden of Earthly Delights, set for release February 22 via SusannaSonata. 

‘Ecstasy X’ features church bells on a cassette, squeaky accordion and heavy processed voices that claim ecstasy is only achievable if we follow the goddess of darkness; conjuring up feelings of the witching hour. Highly inspired by the surreal in Hieronymus Bosch’s art; Susanna has made a cycle of songs which underline the strange and experimental alongside the beautiful for her upcoming album.

The incredible, ahead-of-its-time art of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch bears strong comparison with the music of Norwegian artist Susanna. Visionary, disturbing, spiritual; vivid images of darkness and light, good and evil, heaven and hell and the folly of mankind. Like her songs, Bosch’s iconic images range from the panoramic to the in3mate, and express bliss, torment and tortuous inner conflicts.

On Garden of Earthly Delights, her 13th album, Susanna takes a selection of Bosch’s paintings as starting points for a fervent, poetic rosary of fantastical songs and stories. Tracks like ‘Gluttony and Lust’, ‘Death and the Miser’ and ‘Ship of Fools’, reflect Bosch’s depictions of sin and human weakness, while ‘Wayfarer’, ‘Ecstasy’ and ‘Beautiful Life" suggest the transcendent search for spiritual rewards.

“While this is not a soundtrack to his paintings,” she says, “I feel a resemblance between the absurdity in his pictures and today’s existence. Humanity has never been more enlightened and competent to make sustainable solutions for everyone, but we still close our eyes to poverty, environmental issues and lack of equality.”

1. Garden of Earthly Delights

2. Wayfarer

3. Ecstasy X

4. Death and the Miser

5. Ship of Fools

6. Ecstasy

7. Wilderness

8. Wayfarer II

9. Gluttony and Lust

10. Beautiful Life

11. By Earth and Starry Heaven

12. City of Hope

13. River to Hell

14. Gathering of Birds

Between 1987 and 1997, Jim Bob rode a decade-long rollercoaster from the UK’s pub and club scene to the top of the album charts and back again, leaving behind a trail of hit records, legendary gigs and enough t-shirts to clothe a small nation. As recounted in his first autobiography, the critically acclaimed Goodnight Jim Bob, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine toured the world and sold the records, during the UK’s last period of genuine musical free-for-all, mutating from a two man and drum machine combo to an extensive six (sometimes seven) piece group along the way. But then the rollercoaster stopped…..

So what next for a recovering former rock star? Whatever happened to that bloke from Carter?

Jim Bob From Carter (In The Shadow Of My Former Self) documents Jim’s ongoing journey as a solo artist and author – a man in search of who he is, while constantly being reminded who he was. Whether he’s singing in a disco-pop band, performing solo acoustic ballads, writing novels or acting in a musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it’s clear he is still, for many people, Jim Bob from Carter. At first Jim sees this legacy as a burden and something to escape from, but gradually he learns to accept, embrace and eventually celebrate his glorious past.

This is a funny music book – the funniest music book ever written, according to the author – about Jim Bob’s extended gap year between the acrimonious break-up of Carter in 1997 to their eventual reformation in 2007 (and acrimonious break-up again in 2014). Find out how bands choose their names, what it’s like to be sworn at by Ian Dury, how it feels to discover yourself on a pub trivia machine under the category ‘Where are they Now?’ and why there isn’t a prime time Saturday night TV show called Britain’s Got Authors.

There’s also the usual boring stuff about lyrics and a few music business clichés, like earlier in this blurb where the word ‘journey’ was unnecessarily used.

Jim Bob is now a successful author (Storage Stories, Driving Jarvis Ham, and two Frank Derrick books) and solo artist, both on record and in concert (Carter material guaranteed). He lives in that London.

The author will also be performing a highly anticipated solo concert (his first UK date in a year) at a large London venue to coincide with the book’s release.