“It’s a hot, hot summer/And I’m cool, cool, cool,” coos German artist Alev Lenz‘s in a rare shaft of bittersweet harmony amid a pattering stream of consciousness each note gyrating over sweltering bright pop song that ripples with her gleeful percussion, fizzing samples and calypso beats. She’s singing about the bruising disappointments of love and trying to act like she isn’t bothered: as she waits in the departure lounge with a head full of dreams and set to an escape somewhere far away. ‘Airplane’ is a brilliantly bittersweet creative Tune-Yards-like pop song that’s crawling with invention and bulging with juxtaposition.The addictive soundtrack to the joy and pain of a typical summer holiday with your loved ones then?
Alev’s main collaborator for her debut album was acclaimed Finnish drummer Samuli Kosminen (Múm, Hauschka, Kronos Quartet, Jónsi). A mutual friend suggested they work together, which began weeks and months of emailing sessions from London to Helsinki and back.
