Kleerup – Longing For Lullabies

Kleerup

Swedish super-producer Kleerup was last heard sprinkling sombre strings and bubbling analogue synths on fellow Swede Robyn’s bittersweet indiepop hit of summer ’07, ‘With Every Heartbeat’.

Returning now with his own album, which the aforementioned collaboration with Robyn along with collaborations with other members of Sweden’s pop aristocracy such as Lykke Li and The Concretes’ Lisa Millberg, ‘Longing for Lullabies’ is the first song out of the traps, featuring vocals from quadruple-Grammy winning singer-songwriter Titiyo.

This time around, it’s pretty much more of the same. The lush synth arpeggios still reverberate and stumble their way to your ears; the delicate, elegant strings still slide into view at the spine-tingling breakdown; even the melody, an element that was far from underthought in ‘With Every Heartbeat’, bears striking similarities. Titiyo’s voice, while lacking the yearning innocence of Robyn’s girlish register, still manages to do a fairly good facsimile of it; albeit brassier, bolder and more weather-beaten than that of her contemporary. While it’s a good sign that Kleerup is developing his own, distinctive style, there’s almost a sense that he’s treading water with ‘Longing for Lullabies’, and that while this certainly isn’t the sound of a man backpedalling, there’s nothing about it that suggests any intent at progression, either.

The video features Kleerup himself as protagonist, touching upon the implications of the lines; “Someday/as I look at the sun/I think of you/and traces we leave behind”. However, delivering a slight twist on these words of isolation and regret, or perhaps developing upon some unseen, hidden subject, the video puts the song’s themes of lost love in a heartrending new light. It provides an immersive and affecting narrative that embellishes the sentiment of the song rather than overpowers it. It’s a choker.

Ultimately, while a little too similar to ‘With Every Heartbeat’ for comfort, ‘Longing for Lullabies’ serves the purpose of reminding us of the quality and charm of Kleerup’s work, sufficiently whetting our appetites for his full length album released this month. Let’s just hope that it proves to be the varied, original collection that he is capable of and not a continuation of what could be the beginnings of an alarming trend.

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