Sea Change: Breakage | Album Review

Even as we freeze our socks off to the likes of Fortitude and other Nordic noir interests, along comes Ellen AW Sundes to add to the brooding atmosphere. Breakage was recorded in Sundes's Oslo bedroom, aloof and alone ("When I wrote Squares, I had a strong urge to run away from everything and everyone, and never look back"). Overused words such as "icy" and "minimal" spring immediately to mind. But given that Sundes's deployment of 1980s synth-pop and psychedelia amounts to far more than the usual clichés, there's an immersiveness here that's missing from similar sounding records. Wooden House, Squares, Above and Stairs are as seductive as they are subtle, and the overall feeling is that such a thematically fragile piece of work will be welcomed again and again – if only to make you that little bit stronger each time you listen to it. seachange.no