Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
I’ll start by saying that if you’re not familiar with Susanne Sundfør, you should go and listen to her last album Ten Love Songs straight away. Now. Then come back and listen to her new single, Undercover. The simplest way to summarise Susanne is that she’s a Norwegian electro-pop singer, and she’ll certainly appeal to fans of artists like Margaret Berger and Annie, as well as the new crop such as Sigrid, but there’s also more to her than that. Her music is majestic and orchestral, dark and beautiful, intricate and emotional. I loved Ten Love Songs so much that I purposefully kept my expectations low for her future output, as it does have the feel of a one-off special album that can’t be recreated. Sure enough, the first single from the new album isn’t as immediate as her previous singles Delirious and Fade Away, but it does have the sound and feel of Ten Love Songs, which is promising enough for me. Undercover is delicate and interesting, building up and developing as it goes on. It has the heartfelt lyrical candor Susanne has become known for, and the powerful, almost classical vocals, that contrast with the pop melody and unique production.