Lydmor deals in the mysterious. Her last album, ‘I told you I’d tell then our story’ did just that, recounting for the most part a half-year long stay in Shanghai, some of the mysterious people she met there (including the still inscrutable Claudia, of whom she consistently declines to reveal any detail), the club scene there and much more.
Three years on and she’s back, as unpredictable and ‘dangerous’ as ever and this time she might as well be in The Twilight Zone.
Her latest album, ‘Capacity’ is due out 12th March. I’m fortunate enough to have an advance copy and some of the tracks are mind bending; a couple of them straight out of Twin Peaks. Plus there’s another Claudia-like character that appears in more than one song, and one of her gorgeous piano ballads. I can hear her fans purring with anticipation.
Central to the story of 'Capacity' is the enigmatic, isolated 'Leopold Hotel', which appears on thissong 'Nevada', where Lydmor gains vocal support from classy Faroese artist Eivør. You sense that ‘something’ has happened here, some sort of misunderstanding which has escalated out of all proportion, but there’s no telling just what. Los Angeles’ infamous Hotel Cecil meets the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, meets Area 51. (“Effervescent eye contact with strangers I’m not sure are even there”).
But that ‘something’ is itself a metaphor for human frailties such as prejudice, humiliation and sexism (a common and popular topic for the culturally and sociologically erudite Lydmor and perhaps one about which we will interview her some time).
Jenny Rossander (Lydmor) says,
“In a way, I feel that the crises or the event that neither Eivør nor myself on ’Nevada’ dare say what is, is the focus of my entire new album. On Hotel Leopold in the desert of Nevada, a story plays out about a woman looking for another woman. Something happened. A lot of alcohol was consumed. Someone’s ashamed.” So Jenny is ‘Desperately seeking Eivør’ or vice-versa? We shall see.
Musically, there is an element of R&B in it, an unusual approach for Lydmor, so it needs a soulful voice and Eivør the Faroese Engine certainly brings bags of soul to it. Having her sing about half of the vocal was a good move because Lydmor’s voice suits her high profile electro-pop stuff and delicate ballads equally and perfectly, but not so much songs like this.
One thing I did note is a striking synth pad note sequence that is right out of the Highasakite songbook. I believe Highasakite’s Trond Bersu produced her last album and I note that he’s one of several she has worked with on this album.
The last couple of singles she released, I thought she might have lost her way a little but this is more like it and many of the others on this new album will have you drooling. (The full review will follow closer to the release date).
Nevada is available now. Capacity is released on 12th March (HFN Music).