Photo: Mats Bäcker
Synonymous for his production crafting of Robyn’s interstellar break-through hit “With Every Heartbeat”, Andreas Kleerup is pretty much regarded as one of Sweden’s premiere class producers of this age. Whilst collaborating with others, he also keeps the creative machine turning by embarking on his own solo projects, which have also received thunderclaps of acclaim.
However although the remixes stream from the production desk more readily we never quite know when Kleerup is poised to strike up upon us with new solo material. Since the last solo outing under the name of Kleerup occurred a couple of years ago, the production maestro returns with news of not one but two new EP releases.
In the immediate future comes “As If We Never Won”, of which we can spoil you with the tracklist. The second EP is pencilled in to arrive early 2015.
1. Sad Boys
2. Let Me In featuring Susanne Sundfør
3. To Die For featuring Jenny Wilson
4. Rock U featuring Malin Dahlstrom of Niki & The Dove
5. As If We Never Won featuring Maja Ivarsson (The Sounds)
6. Thank God For Sending Demons
You’ll have noticed some well-known Scandinavian names link up in collaboration with Andreas on “As If We Never Won”, lead track honours on this EP goes to “Let Me In” which is vocally assisted by Norwegian singer/songwriter Susanne Sundfør.
Sundfør known most exponentially for her backing vox with Bjork and collaborations with both Röyksopp and M83, takes on the icy undercurrent of Kleerup’s pristine disco stomping tight “Let Me In” with a cinematically charged vocal direction and is seen to be literally dripping with theatre dynamics in it’s every intake of breath.
It’s by no stretch of the imagination full-on pop, even though the bassline smacks somewhat of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax”. Quite frankly this is what is so good about this track. It has depth. It has creativity. It is pushing the boundaries and embarking on something that our ears aren’t so accustomed too. It makes us listen. I mean REALLY listen!