Danish singer MØ is a paradox. Initially she appeared to be another Scandi electro-pop princess of the bangers. The monster 2015 hit “Lean On” with Major Lazer jacked her profile, briefly, through the roof, but, while she’s worked with everyone from Iggy Azalea to DJ Benny Benassi, she seemed to step sideways from pure pop, tempering it with something more Nordic and melancholy. Her fourth album persuasively continues in this direction.
This isn’t to say that there are no clubby stompers. Those after that pure rush should head straight to “Keep Moving”, an Eighties-tinted 4/4 cruncher, created with Charlie XCX associate The Dare. It’s pure dancefloor gold. Or how about “Sweet”, with Irish rapper-producer Biig Piig, a jump-around ode to outsiders (“I don't go to clubs, I go to Comic Cons and trash metal shows/If you know, you know/Dressed in black from head to toe”). And then there’s the Robyn-ish lovelorn-at-the club throb of “Knife”.
But elsewhere MØ slows things down. Her voice remains girl-ish but also conveys, somehow, the lived life and lost loves of a woman in her mid-30s, an indie sensibility, a shyness. She is well aided by producers Nick Sylvester and longterm collaborator Ronni Vindhal, who polish up a sonic backdrop that sounds crisp, retro-futurist, somewhere between trap, electro and early Lady Gaga.
Thus, lower tempo songs such as the Nineties-trancey “Wake Me Up”, the shimmering “Without You”, the woozy, vocal-sample part-song “Meat on a Stick”, and the lovely wounded harp-laden title track are not sappy or filler. They have heft and intentionality, as well as a very particular sensuality that MØ gives everything. She headed more explicitly in this moodier direction on her underrated last album Motordrome. With the current universality of “sad girl pop”, it’s to be hoped that Plæygirl will receive more recognition.
Below: watch the none-more-Scandi-winter video for "MØ"
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