31082014 - Thea & The Wild "Strangers and Lovers"

Thea Glenton Raknes from Norma Sass debuts as a solo artist with an album of great ambition and variation. It's all pop, but the references range from light to darkness and it's possible to hear hints of both The Cure, Joy Division, (early) The Knife and Florence + The Machine here. All eleven songs are impressively and shamelessly catchy, but still with a depth and finesse that makes them stand out, both from each other and from everything else out there. Thea's voice is an instrument in itself and she displays a rare versatility that gives each song its own identity. Whether fast or slow, sad or full of joy, these songs captivate and thrill so by the end of the record I have fallen in love eleven times - one for each track!