Sigrid shows new patterns in a small version that should have been improved further.
Few Norwegian artists know more about him The noise And its instruments are from Sigrid Raab. After all, the 27-year-old from Ålesund had successfully infiltrated Great Britain, the island kingdom where music journalists had mastered the art of building artists’ careers, then crushing them as brutally as possible the moment the momentum started to crack.
When Sigrid now releases four songs under the title ‘The Hype EP’, they are, in a sense, self-experiments at the bottom of the project – at the same time that the fox is more than noticeable behind the ear.
The four songs are very different from each other – at least on paper. The title track is bubbly Sigrid-pop at its best and least playful, and the line “Only call me when I do something unusual” has grown from clumsy to poignant in the space of a couple of months.
The steamy 80’s “Borderline” is the best. Here, Sigrid 1975 takes on distinctly shameless patchwork pop.
At the other end of the scale we find the experimental Americana “Ghost”, which reveals new depths in Sigrid’s stylistic range. “Wanted It to Be You” is the least important track on the release – here the New Radicals’ “You Only Get What You Give” is lifted rather openly at the entrance of the chorus, with nothing teasing in any direction.
The problem with “The Hype EP” is that the songs – for all their obvious differences – behave melodically very similar. Whether it’s frivolous party vibes, autumnal folk seriousness, or whatever other motives are being pursued in the soundscape, it means well. A bit when you’re thinking of all the melody lines and chord sequences in exactly the same place.
The result is a choppy dose of well-prepared, competent pop music that unfortunately manages to veer into the predictable over its measured 13 minutes.
Best song: “Borderline”
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