2024 was the year that Danish singer-songwriters became so prominent that they became a meme. Like ML Buch and Clarissa Connelly, Astrid Sonne – is a classically trained composer – has an ear for the off-kilter and unsettling. Second track “Do You Wanna” sets the tone, its thudding drums and mournful viola the uneasy backdrop to Sonne’s self-searching: “Do you wanna have a baby? Do you wanna bring people into this world?” she sings, dreamlike and disassociated.
Elsewhere, the spoken-word “Everything Is Unreal” is a mist-cloaked folk incantation over harpsichord and foreboding drum beat, while “Boost “is a creepy sound collage of handclaps, flute-like synths and ghostly pads, among other wunderkammer-ish thrills. Astrid Sonne is a Danish composer and viola player, currently based in London. Astrid Sonne has been carefully crafting different moods through electronic and acoustic instrumental endeavours. On “Great Doubt” this skill is refined, now with the distinct addition of the composer’s own vocal in front. The tone of each track is unmistakably Sonne’s, structured around contrasts through an impeccable sense of timing. Lyrics on the album are sparse, merely highlighting different scenes or emotional states of being, leaving the music to fill in the blanks
The album may be less than 30 minutes long, but the spell it casts during that time is unshakeable. released January 26th, 2024
All songs written and produced by Astrid Sonne
The Fat Angel Sings 