Hi ELBA, are you related to Rhythm? And I’m a music reviewer. Nice to meet you.
If I sound frivolous it’s because we’ve had a fair bit of serious music recently so it’s time to let the hair down, hit the dance floor, and pretend it’s Friday night instead of dreary Monday.
ELBA is Ellen Bathum and she has been here before, back in September with ‘You do you’, which I declared to be as bouncy as the bounciest bouncy castle, highly tuneful and catchy as hell, with her powerful pop anthem-oriented voice, like Kiley on steroids, and that she knows how to write a tune.
I was surprised to learn that she is acknowledged as a leading light in the Danish underground scene because ‘I’m a dancer’ is as mainstream party night club as it gets, and light years away from the despondency of her pandemic-era debut album, ‘Teardrops & Blind Spots.’
She says, “It’s about surrendering to all that is good, about dancing and laughing until everything bursts with ecstasy – to remind us all that even in the darkest of times, the light always returns.”
That’s something Professor Pangloss might have said.
Vocally, I put her in the Velvet Underground category, not because of any similarity with Lou Reed or Nico but because of her lustrous voice.
Once the ‘call to the dance floor’ opening formalities are done with she belts the vocals out with what I can best describe as a wasps’ nest soaked in whisky and honey, topped with cream and then set on fire.
Underpinning it are synths/guitars (not quite sure what’s in there) and what sounds like a battalion of bass guitars that have collectively been wired into the national grid and left Copenhagen with a blackout.
By the time she gets to the end she’s well on her way to redefining ‘anthem.’
Coming to an Ibiza near you, soon.
‘I’m a dancer’ is out now. ELBA will be releasing a new EP in 2024.
Find her on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elbaofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_elbadk/
