ceo - Come With Me

Hearing the name Ceo you’d probably expect some rapper to be hiding behind this synonym, but in fact it’s the talented Swedish electro fiddler Eric Berglund, who’s best known for being half of The Tough Alliance and releases his first single ‘Come With Me’, taken from his debut album ‘White Magic’, on TTA’s record label Sincerely Yours.

Ceo is more than your average side project, least that’s what Berglund would like us to think: “Before space was, Ceo is.” and “Ceo is you and you are me and I am ceo. In eternity.” is written on his homepage. Doesn’t sound very sober.

However, ‘Come With Me’ does sound sober and very clean. Like TTA and unlike TTA. And just like your average electro pop summer hit. It is without a doubt excellently produced. Strings flutter through the song, a repeated sample of some guy’s voice keeps promising “I keep it real”, whilst another sample that sounds like a child’s voice creates a playground atmosphere which is enhanced by the soft chimes that tingle here and there. Of course there’s the inevitable reverb on the vocals aswell, and in the middle there’s a speech taken from a Yellowstone documentary. Paradisiacal.

As predictable and average this may sound, Ceo’s ‘Come With Me’ is still undeniably a ‘hit’ that’s gonna get stuck in your head. It’d be easy to dismiss it as radio electro pop – which it definitely is on first listen – but hidden between all the stunning sounds is something much more sinister than any ‘When Love Takes Over’ could ever be - especially when Berglund asks softly “Would you sacrifice this life to make it real?”