Album Review MØ - No Mythologies To Follow

MØ’s alternate, fractured take on pop isn’t a musical mainstay (it’s been going for only a couple of years in its current form), but the Denmark-based Karen Marie Ørsted has few to zero rivals rivalling her blustering, brash take on things. In ‘No Mythologies To Follow’, there’s the sound of giddy excitement running alongside chart ambition, like a wannabe star seeing their childhood dreams becoming reality in an instant.

This is a debut devoted to ambition, trying new things and seeing what sticks. As a result, it’s fairly splintered as a first work, but it succeeds in the sense that it’s showing off every exciting side to MØ. There’s the trashy beats of opener ‘Fire Rides’, the Diplo-produced ‘XXX 88’ and ‘Pilgrim”s thumping, handclapping punch-fest. Then there’s ‘Never Wanna Know’, which is essentially a Christmas single in disguise; jingle bells clanging around alongside longing vocals. Half Lana Del Rey, half talent show ballad, dressed up in the Dane’s staples it somehow works.

‘No Mythologies To Follow”s parts shouldn’t stick, then. ‘Glass” glimmering synths and cheerleader chants shouldn’t be seen near ‘Don’t Wanna Know”s all out attempt at a smash-hit. Still, instead of being judged as a careful, calculated first work, it’s best viewed as a stampede of crazed ideas, each brimming with life. The energy of this debut is tangible. It’s the equivalent of jumping round a bedroom and ending up in the stratosphere. Loose-footedness pays off, in an album that wins out through sheer enthusiasm.