Anna of the North - Dream Girl

‘Dream Girl’ is a diamond: glittering and multi-faceted with edges and smoothness – enough to dazzle your eyes as it catches the light. ‘Lonely Life’ dips into jazz-influenced, expansive synth: a nod to the signatures of Frank Ocean. The infectious, lolloping pace of ‘Thank Me Later’ creates a blue-skies optimism, whereas ‘Used to Be’ slips into hip hop territory: astral and downtempo.’When R U Coming Home’, with its trilling high-hats and summertime shimmer is Anna of The North’s approach to an R&B anthem.

The record deals with matters of the heart, meaning the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. “Reasons” features the soft vocals of Charlie Skien, which makes Anna’s own ring sharp and true over the minimal, nocturnal instrumentals. The song gives a sense of balance to an album that is otherwise an open letter to a complicated relationship. ‘If U Wanna’ is a visceral closer, raw and exposed, and ‘Leaning on Myself’, with its lurching bassline, is a eulogy to the bittersweet taste of freedom and being lost. ‘Dream Girl’ is a canvas spattered with a thousand colours, as Anna of The North experiments with a spectrum of sounds and moods.