Astrid Sonne - Great Doubt

Back in again and just in time for people to be reminded of its existence as they start thinking about their albums of the year... And it's a fair consideration, as the Danish composer has displayed some compelling evolution on this latest long player Great Doubt, her third since 2018. The first thing fans will notice is the presence of Sonne's own voice, pushed to the forefront here and in doing so marking a conscious move towards the kind of modern experimental pop we might align with Tirzah, Dean Blunt, Julia Holter et al. It's a deceptively tricky shift to make, balancing melodic accessibility with more outre instincts, the risk of falling between the two stations and locking in on no one specific thing at all very obvious. Sonne makes light work of it, the voice both coquettish and charged with longing, the arrangements built around it open and inviting, a confluence of arcing strings, woodwind and bubbling electronics. The production, as you often expect with Scandinavian artists, is also immaculate, clear and crisp but never so much so as to be clinical. That's also in part attributable to Sonne's performance itself, the voice making the whole presentation all that more human, and confident, too. There's the sense of an artist really coming into their own here, realising a vision, standing proudly in the light, not what you might expect from an album called Great Doubt, but better for it. A big step forward for Sonne and as this third pressing attests, one that's garnering her a much wider audience.