The Norwegian singer-songwriter’s new single ‘Chicory’ is as intoxicating as drinking mulled wine in front of an open fire.

With her warm, intimate voice weaving through sparkling arrangements and unusual percussion instrumentation, Juni Habel's delicate finger-picked lullabies will transport you to the Norwegian hinterland. Her songs are odes to life and death, the beauty of belonging, and our kinship with nature, burning like embers in the night.

Her new album Carvings comes out on January 6th, 2023. For more information click here.

Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and something about the music you make? 

Hello!! I’m Juni Habel, and I’m from the countryside an hour south of Oslo in Norway. I live there in an old school building together with my husband Emil, brother Mattis, my grandmother Inger, friend Isis, cat Lisa and dog Sajo. I work as a Waldorf teacher and play music. I write and record most of my music at home. I love making very simple and unpretentious folk music with very basic tools. It’s basically just voice, guitar and a mic. 

How did it all start?

My mother says I sang before I learned to speak. Then my grandmother gave me a guitar for my 10th birthday, and I started going to guitar lessons. I loved singing and playing - but never wrote anything myself. I had tons of barriers, fears and perfectionism. But also a huge desire after making something.  

Then I started writing songs around 2018. I think what helped me start was allowing myself to do it really quick and lighthearted. I would put on a timer and had to finish the song within 30-60 minutes. 

My journey with music has really been a journey about self-discovery and about taking ownership breaking a lot of imagined rules. Doing it with very little professionalism and lots of humanity. Allowing me to put more and more sides of myself into the light. And bringing my family and friends into it.

We love your new single, ‘Chicory’. Can you tell us a bit more about how this single came about?

Chicory was the first song I wrote for this album. I wanted to make a simple folk tune with very few chords.  Chicory is about grief - about letting oneself be held, also when in pain. It’s about tending one’s own grief, about standing faithfully by it and not neglecting it.

 How do you produce your music?

I first recorded the guitar and vocals at home. Then I had some friends coming here to play, or I met some people in Oslo. I would put the gear and drum kit in the back of my little car and drive in. I secretly borrowed a room at the school building for Waldorf teacher education that I went to at the time, where we recorded a lot.

I love making music with a DIY/hobby feeling to it. At this stage, I feel it is very important to me to keep the music-making at a playful, lightweight place. It takes the pressure off to do it myself, on GarageBand, at home - constantly interrupted by my family and daily life - makes the perfect imperfect frame for making things. Besides, it takes tons of time to get the takes right. So it’s good not having anyone sitting there waiting for me to do it right.

My friend Stian Skaaden co-produced the album together with me. He is probably one of my favorite musicians and singers in the world (waiting impatiently for him to release his own stuff) - so I felt very lucky to have him working together with me on this album.

What inspires your music?

I am mostly inspired by the things I randomly find when jamming on my guitar. I guess the guitar inspires me a lot. Then I am very inspired by lots of artists and songwriters - sometimes I can take a song and write a new song based on it. I have written a song based on a film once. And my next single was inspired by a strange dream. 

Do you have any go-to songs that you like to cover?

Yes, I have always loved to cover Neil Young. At our last gig, we played Out on the weekend. I love to play Gillian Welch songs as well. And Adrianne Lenkers. 

What advice would you give anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to you?

Think less, jam more. Just do it, put a timer on. Crappy gear can be so great. Flaws are great!! And write lyrics from jamming, it makes them more natural. 

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you. 

I´ve listened to Beth Gibbons’s Out of season my whole life — she is a big one. I love her voice and her songwriting. I love the honesty in it and the mysticity. 

What do you hate right now?

It’s hard to think of something. Negativity, perhaps, then.

What do you love right now?

I love November. I love spending a lot of time inside and doing little. Reading books and watching tv. 

What’s the best gig you’ve ever played?

Probably at St. Edmunds church at By:larm festival in 2020. Love playing in churches. 

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

Oløf Arnalds at Roskilde in… 2011?? 

What comes next in the Juni Habel story?

What comes next is that we will be releasing some singles this fall, and then my new album comes out in January. Then I hope I can pull myself together to start writing some songs again, it’s been a while - but I feel pretty sure that I’ll make more at some point!

Is there any new music from 2022 you have been enjoying?

Yes, I´ve listened a lot to Aoife Nessa Frances’s Protector and Alabaster dePlume’s GOLD (I’ve listened it to pieces!!!), and some friends of mine, Havsus released a beautiful album, Something Out of The Blue, that reminds me of Linda Perhacs.