Izzy Lindqwister, Moon Beam Cream – review
At a first glance, Izzy Lindqwister seems to be somewhat clichéd: A blonde Swedish girl living in Paris to make it as a musician with some electronic singersongwritersoul. However, she’s not coming out of nowhere: As a teenager she accompanied Johnny Thunder’s guitarist Stevie Klasson, later in London and Paris she collaborated with various groups and founded the band Rodeo Massacre. Now her solo material is to be found between blues, classic pop, reggae, rocksteady, electro, soul, gospel, dream-pop and lo-fi – and the list could easily be longer. Izzy Lindqwister is well-versed with all of these references, creating not only a big collage that lets us travel through space and time but also something very original. Her strong voice holds it all together and shapes one single body out of the many different layers of style. She cannot really be compared to anything out there. Even the songs she covers take on a very new identity and fit well next to her own ones.
Various words and images pop up to describe her sound: the universe, glitter, dancing pineapples, rocket-ships, lollipops, lipsticks, balloons and mermaids, a kitsch sunset over the sea, an animal farm, puppies, pyramids, caravans, plastic palm trees, rainbows, soap bubbles, beaches and last but not least weird coloured drinks. But among all, the title to her first album, Moon Beam Cream, is a perfect description to explain what to expect from her music, as it sounds exactly like that. It is the soundtrack to our century of collage, where everything is a wild mixture. Intro and outro build a frame for the different sounds and make the album loopable – it really is no problem to listen to it again and again. Beyond the overall smooth coolness her songs have a certain exoticism.
Underlayed with her songs, everyday scenes become short movies. One gets into the mood to loll on a tiger-striped carpet in dim light, hit the dance-floor in mirrorball-reflections or build a sparkling rocket-ship. Scenes like that are emerging in one’s head, clearly influenced by the pictorial lyrics – who wouldn’t like to imagine being part of the “intergalactic jetset”? Also the videos accompanying the songs are playing with a melange of styles in strong colours, a dreamy composition of remixed sequences that underline very well this certain feeling of wonder, joy and vast. Image and sound go perfectly together, as Izzy Lindqwister composed some of them herself.
Words and illustration by Lisa Says
