Mall Girl - Pure Love
Oslo trio Mall Girl today announces their new album Pure Love, out 26th January 2024 via Jansen Records.
Pure Love is the second album from the Oslo art-pop experimentalists, following the band's acclaimed 2022 debut full length Superstar which received notable tips from The Guardian, TIME Magazine, The Quietus amongst others.
On the creation of new single "Inzane", Mall Girl shared:
"We had this song idea brewing for a while and whilst finalizing the writing, we agreed that we should write our longest song yet. And boom, it became our little rock symphony. The song is like a wave of hurt and confusion that suddenly turns into a feverish, jazz dream. It all feels like going insane, on a normal Monday."
Adorned with bold string sections, crushing guitars and otherworldly jazz-inflected interludes, "Inzane" is anchored around vocalist Bethany Forseth-Reichberg's feverish exclamations of infatuation: "Do you see how I really crave you, honey? / Something about you makes me go insane"
Bethany Forseth-Reichberg along with guitarist Iver Armand Tandsether and drummer Veslemøy Narvesen combine to form one of the most uncompromising, unique and exhilarating pop outfits coming out of Scandinavia, with Bethany's exquisite voice and intriguing, impassioned prose providing the perfect counterpoint to Iver's explosive guitar work and Veslemøy's intricate percussion.
It was last year when Bethany and Iver had "a major kick on Midwest Emo" and "all things intricate guitar riffs" - as Bethany expanded on the influences at play...
"I had also just seen Big Thief live and felt like Adrianne Lenker had opened up a new pathway in my musical brain. After listening to 'Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You' on repeat for maybe a whole month and forcing Iver and Veslemøy to listen to the riff in 'Simulation Swarm' maybe equally as many times, the process of writing new music started."
An eclectic merging of influences ranging from indie-pop and jazz to midwest emo and math-rock, Pure Love, the second album from Mall Girl, thematically zeros in on just that, pure love. Through first breakups and dating through post-break-up pain and insecurities, the album finds the band proposing questions: “what do I believe in? Who do I want to become? and Where is my life headed?”.
Bethany went on to say: "I guess the album is like a break up album meets a Bildungsroman (is it like an episode of Girls? Maybe). Ironically, the “post-college-rock” sound could maybe go hand in hand with the post college experience I’ve had a go at writing about. I am glad we wrote this album and slightly (very) nervous to let people hear our take on Pure Love."
INFO
Mall Girl - Pure Love
Art. no: JANSEN151
Release date: January 26th, 2024
Tracklist:
1. Inzane
2. All I Should Have Said
3. Energy Lights
4. English Breakfast
5. Glu Myself 2 U
6. Inside Out
7. Super Lazy Girl
8. Emo Shred
9. Pure Love
Bethany Forseth Reichberg: Vocals
Iver Armand Tandsether: Guitar, bass
Veslemøy Narvesen: Drums
Christian Franzén: Bass
Marius Elfstedt: Synth
All songs written by Mall Girl
Produced by Marius Elfstedt and Iver Armand Tandsether
Mixed by Marius Elfstedt
Mastered by Christian Obermayer
Buy Mall Girl’s debut album «Superstar»!
«Whatever direction they choose to follow, there is a real feeling that Mall Girl are a band at the beginning of something» – The Quietus
