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Jul 23, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by Jonathan Vivaas Kise

Norway’s Ora the Molecule (aka Nora Schjelderup) has released her debut album, Human Safari, today via Mute. Now that the album is out you can stream the whole thing below.

In February, Schjelderup shared the song “Creator” upon the album’s announcement, and it was featured on our Songs of the Week. Then she shared its next single, “Die to Be a Butterfly,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then she shared another single from it, “The Ball,” via a video that features lots of slow motion shots of her riding a horse (sometimes in reverse), as well as of her with a dog on a beach. “The Ball” once again landed Ora the Molecule on the Songs of the Week list. The album also features previous single “Sugar.”

A press release for Human Safari says its songs alternate “between joyous, beat-driven avant-pop and slick synthwave.”

“It’s for sure two poles,” Schjelderup agrees. “The speaker is the storyteller and the instrumentals are nature or the way life goes. Sometimes you get scared, sometimes it opens up. It’s life. I wanted to make a landscape where the voice could guide you through and be a safe voice. So even when it’s a little bit darker, you’re still in the story and it continues.”

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