The next act in my list of hype acts for 2014 are the Australian / Swedish duo Say Lou Lou. Twin sisters Elektra and Miranda Kilbey were born to an Australian father and Swedish mother in Australia, but grew up with periods in both of their parent's homelands. And you can kind of tell...
And that is because there is just a touch of the electronic cool you hear in the production style across much of the Modular label, for example, but it is applied to a dreamy style of pop music that feels distinctly Scandanavian. We are in deep dream wave territory here - moments of maudlin and bewitching melodies combined with catchy new wave synth hooks, and others of uplifting and irresistible power ballads. It's a little like last year's darlings Haim (yes, sisters again) woke up with a tearful hangover and a bunch of Beach House and Echo and the Bunnymen albums for inspiration. In my book that's a pretty good thing.
Expect the album in the middle of the year, but the girls clearly aren't in a hurry. Having released their debut on Kitsuné in 2012 they have since formed their own label à Deux and are releasing through that, suggesting creative freedom is a key driver.
Start with the In The Dark EP and their cover version of Tame Impala's Feels Like We Only Go Backwards, both below:
There's a stack more worth checking out on Say Lou Lou's SoundCloud page, including their excellent track Julian.