“Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)” may hit like a shock of tropical color against a gray city exterior, but it takes the length of an early-morning dream to achieve its blissful effects. But the music here is slower-paced, introspective. Forever Mix is the second release from Kulør, the label run by fellow Danish artist Courtesy, following a compilation that introduced the city’s “fast techno” style.
“Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)” (the first part of the title translates to “The Dream of the Island”) is also a strange bird within Marott’s own Copenhagen techno scene. The record’s A-side, “Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19),” is a sumptuous, 14-minute mini-suite that lofts picturesque bird calls atop sleek drum pulse, rubbery acid synths, clattering Latin percussion, and other meticulously rendered subtleties. Yoshinori Mizutani’s cover photograph of vivid lime-green parakeets outside a drab urban building is ingeniously suited for Kasper Marott’s Forever Mix EP. Kasper Marott: “Drømmen om Ø (Forever Mix ’19)” It turns out the woman who built a career on fairy tales and scorched-earth breakup songs is just as deft with the simple and soulful. This is the stuff of real intimacy, of partnership, of creating a language and a life together. “Lover” features a classically swooning, Swiftian bridge-one designed to soundtrack wedding vows in renovated barns until the end of time-but its most penetrating lines depict the unglamorous stuff: telling dirty jokes, saving seats, deciding whether or not to drag out the air mattress for your college friends. How can you make sure a good thing lasts forever?
Both songs are tributes to the dirty work that goes into keeping a relationship healthy, and they’re spiked with the fear and doubt people feel even when that work is paying off. With its rustic arrangement and domestic imagery, it sounds like a spiritual sequel to “New Year’s Day,” the acoustic cleansing that closes 2017’s divisive Reputation. “Lover,” the title track from her most recent blockbuster LP, is a reminder of how effortlessly she can translate specific gestures and moments into universal expressions of romance. There’s room in Taylor Swift’s galaxy for celebrity warfare, veiled political commentary, and enthusiastic allyship, but her work is finest when it’s laser-focused on flawed, hopeful people making a connection.
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