Sofie Royer - before/after

"I'll wear my mini skirt to the opera." Frankly, Sofie Royer could stop there. 'before/after' arrives with its sunglasses already on, opening assertively and proceeding with the air of someone who knows precisely how cool they sound.

That surface confidence has a more restless companion underneath. Royer describes the record as "you vs you", examining the maddening experience of recognising your own behavioural patterns and then finding yourself repeating them anyway. It gives titles including 'Cowboy Mouth', 'Sesquicentennial', 'Actress', 'AUTO' and the wonderfully named 'Sold out the jazz club', an intriguing frame: stylish pop with its attention repeatedly turning back towards the person making it.

'Opium' makes the tension explicit, written late in the process while Royer was home alone playing a detuned bass. It borrows rhythmic inspiration from The Cribs and uses addiction as its central metaphor, with an added family connection to her grandfather in pre-revolution Iran. It's an unusually rich bit of history tucked inside a very cool song.

And cool really is the operative word. Plenty of artists strain for it; Royer seems to have misplaced the capacity for trying too hard. Even when 'before/after' digs into repetition and self-scrutiny, it retains its swagger. Mini skirt to the opera? Obviously.