Tag: Tove Lo

Tove Lo – Not On Drugs

“But then that chorus hit, and WOW.”

Tim: Thanks to one particular two-lettered mobile phone company, I’m in a bit of a bad mood right now, so what I’m looking for is something fairly loud.

Tim: So when I pushed play on this, I wasn’t immediately enthralled, and soon found my eyes wandering to that there Twitter.

Tom: That’s pretty much what I did too. Those first few notes are dull, dull, dull, but then the end of that first verse starts building properly…

Tim: But then that chorus hit, and WOW. It’s nothing huge, admittedly, or particularly novel, but it’s almost reminiscent of Wrecking Ball (and, I suppose, Undo), what with the big lengthy bass notes coming out of nowhere, suddenly whacking you right in the eardrum.

Tom: I wouldn’t give it that much of credit: it’s interesting, sure, but it’s not backed up by the vocal emphasis that it needs — that build just isn’t followed through on.

Tim: Listen to the lyrics and you’ll find they sort of fit, with the tone, but not actually all that much because yes the music has a desperate ‘listen to me’ sensation, but it’s also exactly the sort of music that you could imagine getting utterly off your face to, so, well, I dunno, maybe that’s the point. Anyway, this is great.

Tove Lo – Out Of Mind

“Well-composed and well-sung, it shows off the art of music production”

Tim: Fancy seeing a Swede pull her head apart?

Tom: Wait, literally? ‘Cos I’ve got to be honest, the answer is no.

Tim: Well, you’re going to.

Tom: Well, that was unexpectedly lovely. Am I wrong for thinking that? That was a really nicely put together visual metaphor, really well shot, and with — if I might get my opinion in early — a really fantastic tune behind it.

Tim: You’re not wrong at all. It’s a video inspired by diary entries, which paints a somewhat bleak picture of her childhood, but we’re not here to psychoanalyse (fortunate, really, as she said in an interview about how the demons and dark thoughts just won’t leave her head). Instead, we’re here to listen to music, which makes this a perfectly good track to be going on with. It starts out quiet and downbeat, in a Lana Del Ray style type thing, but then quickly becomes loud and downbeat which works wonderfully.

Tom: Agreed. Aside from being well-composed and well-sung, it shows off the art of music production: there’s just so much going on, but none of it overpowers the rest.

Tim: To be honest, I’m having slight trouble reconciling the video with the lyrics – don’t get me wrong, it’s a great video, but accusing someone else of being out of their mind while showing an image of yourself being slightly deranged doesn’t really seem quite right. Unless she’s singing it to herself, which I suppose is a possibility, but then OH I DON’T KNOW.

Tom: No, you’ve missed a key lyric there: “You’re out of your mind to think that I could keep you out of mine.” He thinks she’ll forget about him easily after he’s gone. She won’t.

Tim: Ohhh…oh yes. Well, anyway. What I’ve not missed is that the actual music sits very right indeed, so let’s keep the two separate and we’ll all be fine.