Posted by “I just make music. Because I’m at my happiest if I can make something I like.” These words, the mission statement of Oslo musician Emilie Nicolas, speak to an urge many of us find outlets for in our creative pursuits.
After a brain tumour curtailed her music career – and almost her life – Nicolas went back to trying to find the joy in the act of creation, which eventually led her onto the path to make ‘Let Her Breathe’. Nicolas’ sound, informed by her tenure in the Trondheim jazz conservatoire, is coloured with varying shades of light and dark greys, from her own inspirations (Jeff Buckley, Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett, Ane Brun), to her urge to use club-ready rhythms.
The album was created all through last year and into early 2020, and was “recorded above a nightclub in Oslo, and co-produced by Nicolas, alongside her cousin Thomas Kongshavn, Aksel Carlson and Ole Torjus Hofvind”.
As well as her previous inspirations, Nicolas intended to integrate some new, fresher dance rhythms into her sound, and she was particularly influenced by both Burna Boy and Robyn. This new clarity of focus is particularly clear on the glitchy, wobbly electronic haze of ‘Teddybear’, which features strange waves of guitar arpeggios.
Elsewhere, ‘Who’s Gonna Love You’ showcases this newfound focus on rhythm, while ‘No Humans’ diversifies the pallete of the record, taking it into a wilder, freer territory – especially in the breathtaking crescendo. ‘Oh Love’, ‘No Humans’ and ‘If I Call’ all skilfully match their sound to the lyrical concerns, be it the environment, heartbreak or existential crises. ‘If I Call’, with its robotic, synthetic elegance, conjures a Blade Runner-esque sense of alienation and strangeness.
The insistent handclaps that open ‘Tsunami’, and the up-front vocal presence makes it one of the highlights of the record. “All you wanted was a beach to lie on/But you got a tsunami,” Nicolas sings, alternating between throaty and breathy vocal timbres to masterful effect. When she starts singing in French, the whole track floats off into the stratosphere.
Like ‘Who’s Gonna Love You’, ‘Teddybear’ and ‘First Love Song’, ‘Tsunami’ also features a gradually rising sense of tension that culminates in an explosive crescendo. Maybe it’s a quirk of her songwriting, maybe it’s a stylistic decision – but the way Nicolas’ tracks build to a cathartic release is impressive.
This is a brisk listen, and a complete one. The tracks are sequenced so that they run into each other, with complementary moods and styles placed next to each other to amplify the effect of Nicolas’ vision. While she successfully integrates her new influences, she also retains a sense of her own individuality. This is a heartbroken, icy-cool record made for summertime sadness – and Nicolas’ best album yet.
8/10
Words: Ross Horton
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