Released: 21st September 2018
Rating: ★★★★
It’s felt like Say Lou Lou have been an undiscovered gem for a while now. Trading in the sort of effortless style of pop that would make the Top 40 blush, their debut album ‘Lucid Dreaming’ received the sort of critical plaudits that should make them bonafide stars. While it may not have done exactly that, it pointed to a rich future – one that’s emboldened and dipped in noir magic with follow-up ‘Immortelle’, a sizzling plunge into darkness and cinematic vision that could make ‘Immortelle’ the sort of underground diamond the world needs to see shine brightly.
Clocking in at only seven tracks long, it’s the sort of album that suggests something deeper – the twin sisters making a departure away from the stifling industry and company they found themselves in and instead reaching for something more. Across ‘Immortelle’, there’s an artistic flair that can’t be denied – bursting from opener ‘Ana’ with its trip-hop Bristolian glints sounding like the ultimate James Bond soundtrack before spiralling into an overflowing finale. They jump between moods and flavours with ease, ‘Golden Child’ could easily sit on a Girls Aloud Greatest Hits, ‘All Love To Me’ is a string-lead procession charge while ‘Phantoms’ stalks and prowls with a menacing ease before shifting into mesmeric ABBA-styled heights. Short in tracks is matched up with more enticing power than most pop records this year, with Say Lou Lou’s identity firmly at the front of every single note.
One of the most defiant statements made by a pop act this year, Say Lou Lou deserve to be massive – and ‘Immortelle’ is an important step into the stages they want to embrace. Rich, dark and packed to the brim with delights – this is the sort of record that once you click play on, will leave an undeniable mark.
Jamie Muir
