Alva Ravn was born in Oslo but has since relocated to Copenhagen. Growing up, she immersed herself in soul, gospel, and rock music before settling into her own sound, described as gloomy yet romantic. She released her first single, ‘Precious Prey’ in 2019 and has done the rounds of several Nordic festivals since, including the 2019 By: Larm where I missed her but to get a booking there on the strength of one song is no mean achievement.
Apparently Alva has been dubbed “Scandinavia's next star” by numerous media outlets. Well we havehad quite a few of those but we’re always happy to give others the chance to prove it.
One commendable thing about her straight away is that she hasn’t sulked through lockdowns but has spent the last year putting together the songs that would become her debut EP which will be titled, ‘Hindsight’ and which is slated for a 28th May release.
She says ‘Hindsight ’is “a collection of songs about clarity and closure. It’s a bittersweet farewell and an ode to being a girl.” John Keats eat your heart out.
Before then we have this first track, ‘Fall’.
I took a quick look around a private playlist of the EP before listening to ‘Fall’ and noticed that ‘Precious Prey’ isn’t the most-listened to track. It is one called ‘All I’ve got to spend is time’ which sounds like the archetypal lockdown song and it’s very good.
‘Fall’ has had the fewest advance plays but is a more complex track with a fuller, orchestral arrangement. How to classify her? Pop-soul? Soul-pop? Soulful pop? Any of those; and moody, very moody. She also carries that popular slightly nasal vocal delivery that has been perfected by the likes of Sia, and to which I alluded in a previous review a few days ago.
But that doesn’t mean she lacks originality. The fact she is hard to pin down by ‘genre’ is testament to that. Could she be Scandinavia’s next star? Don’t bet against it.
I’m not sure though why her promo shot has her sat on the toilet of a garishly-lit bathroom in her pants. She’s moody, yes. Sleazy? No.
‘Fall’ is available on streaming sites from 16th April.