Tag: Sophia Somajo

Alan Walker feat. Sophia Somajo – Diamond Heart

“It’s safe to say the man now has one of the most recognisable styles there is.”

Tim: Whole lot of good new stuff came out last Friday (not least Cher’s ABBA covers album); there was also a collaboration between Olly Murs and Snoop Dogg, but we’ll put that to one side. Let’s start with this, and the video’s a conclusion to that World of Walker trilogy that made basically no sense. Does this video resolve any of it?

Tim: No, of course it doesn’t – though I’m going to see him in a couple of months, and if he doesn’t have any of the flying things on the merch stand I’ll be thoroughly disappointed. But the music – so, it’s good.

Tom: There’s a point, half way through that first verse, where that certain Alan Walker rhythm appears. I don’t possess the musical skill to say what it is, but it’s safe to say the man now has one of the most recognisable styles there is. The question is, I suppose, whether that’s sustainable into future albums, or whether people like the sound and not the artist.

Tim: Bit of both, probably, and I’d put money on it being either updated for the second album or fully changed for the third. But right now, Alan’s one of my favourite DJs around, and as far as I can remember he’s yet to put out a duff track. And yet…I’m not quite so satisfied with this. There’s nothing bad about it per se, but it’s not quite as great – compare it to there massive sounds of Darkside, The Spectre or Faded, and it doesn’t have the sense of majesty those did. Though I can tell you why, immediately: it’s the vocal.

Tom: What, the not-quite-Sia effect?

Tim: No – I’ve no problems with the quality or anything of it. It’s the fact that it stays there, and we never get a full instrumental breakdown. If we did, I’d realise immediately that the music behind this really is absolutely brilliant. Having said that, I don’t want to get rid of the vocal, because it too is fantastic.

Tom: That’s fair. I think the lack of majesty, as you put it, is also a bit due to the composition. Let’s be honest, the melody’s repetitive enough that it could be a playground rhyme.

Tim: Ooh, bit harsh. Basically, my problem is that there’s too much brilliant stuff here. And let’s face it, there are worse problems I could have – could be writing about that Olly Murs track, for starters.

Sophia Somajo – Klein Blue

“A slightly wonky metaphor, but it’s better than a lot we hear here.”

Tim: New one off Sweden’s Sophia, who’s been away for a while but has now returned with a song about if you look at her up close you’ll see that she is blue (presumably metaphorically so, but you never can tell really).

Tom: With a blue little window, and a blue Corvette, and everything is…

Tom: …oh. No, then. Never mind.

Tim: Sorry, no. Let’s delve deep: when there’s no light she’s like a bottomless abyss of an ocean, which really is very dark indeed, but when you get closer and see her in the light she is in fact klein blue (which is an actual colour, taken from a very interesting and not at all pointless painting).

Tom: Don’t you sass International Klein Blue! That’s someone who can successfully invent, and then name, a colour — specifically one that’s difficult to reproduce — after themselves. That’s a skill, and, yes it makes this a slightly wonky metaphor for a song, but it’s better than a lot we hear here.

Tim: Oh, fine. Slightly wonky metaphors aside, though, that’s a pretty good song, isn’t it? Bit loud, bit raucous, and mostly a brilliant chorus, doing justice to her insistence that people just need to LOOK AT HER, DAMMIT. Well, I’m not bothered whether people do look at her or not, but I do hope peopler hear her, because I’d like more of this.

Tom: It’s not bad, is it? Not going on regular rotation for me — a bit too dark and introspective for my tastes — but I can see the appeal.

Tim: EP’s out in February, so let’s wait and see.