The Beat Surrender

My first real introduction to Lindstrøm came with the wonderful album Where You Go I Go Too, I instantly fell in love with the record and have played it many times since reviewing it (not something I get the luxury of doing very often).

He has now teamed up with Christabelle Silje Isabelle Birgitta Sandoo and they release their debut album this month through Feedelity/Smalltown Supersound, to say it’s been eagerly awaited by people once they heard about this collaboration is a massive understatement.

While on paper it looks like a match made in heaven, you know that these things don’t always work out thay way, luckily for us though Real Life Is No Cool doesn’t disappoint, despite a change in Lindstrøm’s sound which initially caught me off balance.

Gone are the lush ambient landscapes of his solo work and in it’s place we have a funked up almost electro sound, well the majority of the album is should I say. The album though opens with a curveball, the multi-tracked vocals from Christabelle overlaying each other as an acapella, then the beat comes in, piano and her soulful vocal take over, flitting in and out of the song.

This scattered approach to song structure actually serves them well, especially on the beautifully chilled Music In My Mind, or Let’s Practise which has a much harder edge to it. The two highlights for me though are the futuristic sounding Keep It Up, the 70’s/80’s mix of Baby Can’t Stop that I could well imagine Michael Jackson singing over and the modern electro trip hop of Lovesick.

Let’s hope it’s the first of many collaborations, but also that it doesn’t deter him from making a solo album soon as well.

Photo Credit: Kim Hiorthoy