I have a small confession to make: I’ve been listening to this album for six weeks or so, but only in the days leading up to writing this review did I actually start treating it more like an album and less like a collection of songs, but it is a testament to just how good it is that Finnish starlet Sansa’s [Twitter/Facebook] debut album Savior works just as well when broken down to its composite parts as it does as a unified whole, and that is entirely down to the strength of the songs, each of which is given further weight by her exquisite voice.
By now, you’ve probably heard that Sweden is making some of the best pop music out there at the moment. Well, Finland is stating its case in rather stunning fashion with this album, and Scandinavia as a whole just can’t seem to go wrong. Each of the songs on Savior has been my favourite on the album over the course of my time spent with it. Containing an almost obscene amount of genre-hopping – a brace of stripped-back acoustic songs close the album; the woozy acoustic pop of opener Waiting for the Sky is given an entirely new context by a background keyboard line – the album showcases its creator’s diversity in a way that expresses a clear sense of mischief. Listen to Faults in My Armour and you’ll have her pegged as a synth-pop artist, but you should then prepare to be entirely wrong-footed by the 80s-inspired mid-tempo ballad Black & White
The album is finely balanced between moods, and is surprisingly strong throughout. Right around the middle of the album, she breaks out the country-tinged title track (one of those times where the mention of country actually points to a song being good; she does a lot more with it than one might expect), and at this point, Savior hits its stride. There is also an utterly perfect pop song tucked away towards the end whose name is Can’t Keep My Eyes Off You, that would utterly dwarf the other 11 songs on the album if it wasn’t so damn consistent. I think it’s my favourite song of the year at this point – that is how good it is.
The album is more cohesive than one would think, with the number of styles explored across its 12 songs. It’s also far more than the sum of its parts, and if it passes under the radar for most people, that will be a crying shame, because it’s fantastic on all manner of different levels. It sounds clichéd to say it, but what the hell: if you only hear one Scandinavian pop album this year, then make it this one.
Savior is out next week via KoolMusik, and is streaming in its entirety below:
