drea (Norway) – Let Go (sample track from debut EP Letters to my bitter self)

I really enjoy introspective, self-deprecatory stuff like this and have done since I first heard Ida Wenøe’s marvellous ‘The Self-Pity Song’.

drea, out of Bergen, aka Andrea Ådland,is a debutant into the business as a solo singer-songwriter although she has an impressive pantheon of work as a backing singer, and is hosted by the small Norwegian label Vift Records who have found themselves a little gem here with this EP.

It is painfully honest. She’s the musical equivalent of the old guy who sits pleadingly outside my supermarket every day asking for a ‘few bob’ to buy a sandwich. You just know he’s genuinely down on his luck, not an acid head on the make and the authenticity of drea’s singing is equally palpable.

You hear a lot about bedroom pop these days and the EP sounds as if it was made in an attic but that just adds even more to the legitimacy of the work.

I struggled to select a sample track here; all five of them have their individual attractions. I was drawn to ‘Loser’, first. Who can resist a song that starts off with “I’m a fucking loser, I don’t need to brag about it”, while ‘Lazy Critic’ tugs at the heartstrings, ‘Dear Emily’ soars with effortless vocalisation that will melt what’s left of your ticker and ‘Alright’ convinces you that for all her woes her spirit will ensure that she will be.

I opted in the end for the third track, ‘Let go’, also her first single,for a variety of reasons. Firstly, for the wonderful lyricism. You can’t help but fall for a song which begins with “Life is just a game collecting points/ and I don’t have the manual for all the do’s and don’ts.

That, and the manner in which she delivers it, and the time signature, is right out of the Fiona Apple song book, allied to the storytelling mastery of Steady Holiday (another Andrea – Dre Babinkski) with the added benefit that it could be right out of a 1930’s film starring Judy Garland.

Over the last few years I’ve heard most of the new kids on the block who have gone on to make it big in Norway – your Auroras, Sigrids, Dagnys, girl in reds and so on, and those that are on the fringe. I don’t think for a minute that drea will be on the fringe of anything for long.

Find her on:

Website (label): https://www.viftrecords.com/drea/ep