Twin sisters hailing from Sweden or Australia or both…
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[6.12]
Brad Shoup: But first, a message from the Australian Nightfucking Association. Nightfucking: Because you’re not really going to finish The Luminaries, are you?
[6]
Edward Okulicz: The eye-catching factoid is that Say Lou Lou are the daughters of the two people who wrote “Under the Milky Way.” That said, their Swedish side comes out more, “Better in the Dark” is like the combination of a sunny day clocking in at -5°C that is more Stockholm than Sydney. The melt after Frida Sundemo. You know, it’s chilly but inviting synth-pop; it’s slightly uplifting, but slightly cold. It’s catchy, but the hooks are kind of nervous and staring at their shoes when the sky’s right there (it’s not dark at all, just dimly lit). It’s not shy about its immaculate sheen, though.
[7]
Anthony Easton: For a song that is supposed to be about things being better in the dark, this song is so light, airy, almost glossy — not elegant glossy, but kind of vapid glossy. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think the chorus is fantastic.
[6]
Alfred Soto: To feel better in the dark, stay as kinetic as possible. Don’t project longing like a second rater.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Nice to hear something that doesn’t chase after the sleazy late-night burnouts of The Weeknd or the fidgety electro-pop of Purity Ring, but rather just does a nice straightforward thing with some dreamy touches deeper in the mix. Say Lou Lou still need to carve out an identity all their own — or, at least more than “normal enough” — but the prettiness of the chorus offers hope they are on their way.
[6]
Zach Lyon: Because I’m a prude, my mind reverts to always un-sexing songs that can only be about sex and wondering what else “it” can be (dying!/bleeding!/crying!/bathing!) that can possibly feel so much better. That said, this is clearly not about sex. It is actually about everything in that Greta-Gerwig-Arcade-Fire-Spike-Jonze video, probably — rainy forests and hotel-lit hotel hallways and minor choreography and death, I guess, and there are five notes at the end of the chorus that prove it. Those chintzy chime-echo harmonies are never gonna sound as old as they want. It’s also about sofa sex. I am defeated.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: The last spangles left behind on prom night, the streetlamp that hits just so, voices yearning past their capacities, more reverb than is really reasonable: I was hoping someone would use Heartthrob as a template.
[7]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Slow the pacing down a half-beat and you have a Jhené Aiko song. Speed it up a half-beat and you have a Empire of the Sun track. Let it play out and you have a well-crafted formality.
[5]