What’s this? THIS is the debut album from Norwegian band KEiiNO, released today. THIS is ‘OKTA’.
Oh nice! What’s on it? What’s NOT on it!
Well a quick look at the tracklisting suggests neither of their two covers, ‘Shallow’ and ‘Vill Ha Dig’. True. But on there, we have all six of their original singles – ‘Would I Lie’, ‘Black Leather’, ‘Colours’, ‘Dancing In The Smoke’, ‘Praying’ and the Eurovision televote winning and Norwegian Grammy nominated ‘Spirit In The Sky’. Plus, there are four brand-new tracks.
What are the new tracks like? For the new songs, they’ve offered up quite an eclectic mix of sounds for us. ‘Louder’ finds the trio dabble in some beat-heavy, funked-up, r&b-pop, while ‘Roar Like A Lion’ sees them go full HAKA on us. ‘Take Me Home’, meanwhile, might well be the most pure POP song they’ve put their name to. And finally, there’s ‘Bed With The Wolf’, which also serves as the band’s brand-new single – and for this, they’ve served up a lush soundscape of bubblegum synthpop.
Sounds like QUITE the album. If a better pop album is released in 2020, we’ll be shocked, we’ll be stunned, and we’ll be – well – obviously delighted, too, in fairness.
More from KEiiNO? Yes, actually. Tonight they’re having a free live-stream concert, to celebrate the release of the album, over on their Facebook page and YouTube channel.
You can find ‘Bed With The Wolf’ on our Best New Pop playlist.
