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Apr 23, 2021 Web Exclusive By Dom Gourlay

Norwegian duo Misty Coast make music that’s both melancholic and escapist in equal measures. Which is just as well, because if you’re going to drop an album in the middle of a global pandemic, the last thing anyone needs is to be reminded of everything that’s going on around them.

Here on When I Fall From the Sky, the pair—multi-instrumentalists Linn Frokedal and Richard Myklebust—have teamed up with drummer Kim Age Furuhaug from Oslo psych experimentalists Orions Belte for what is essentially their first long player as a trio. Aided and abetted by Emil Nikolaisen of Serena-Maneesh fame on production duties, When I Fall From the Sky might just be Misty Coast’s most accomplished record to date.

Following on from 2019’s second album Melodaze, When I Fall From the Sky focuses on Frokedal and Myklebust’s penchant for creating dizzying pop songs shrouded in effects but oozing with melodic grace. Indeed, Misty Coast provide the yin to their heavier and more aggressive alter ego The Megaphonic Thrift’s yang, and both work effortlessly in tandem.

Opener “Switch Off” takes its inspiration from My Bloody Valentine’s more effervescent moments. Not least due to Frokedal and Myklebust’s delectable harmonies, which aren’t a million miles away from Bilinda Butcher and Kevin Shields at their most lovelorn. However, it’s when Misty Coast strip back that the real magic begins.

Recent single “Transparent” evokes memories of Broadcast at their most winsome, while both “Sugar Pill” and “Ghost Town” find solace in the endearing way they deal with anxiety and loneliness. Likewise, “Do You Still Remember Me?” and the elegant title track, which tackle isolation and insomnia through effects laden sonic plateaus and hazy, delicately cooed vocals.

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Hilma Nikolaisen—sister of Emil and herself a former member of Serena-Maneesh—makes an appearance on “92” while album highlight “In a Million Years” sums up the record’s otherworldliness with its cautiously optimistic tone. (www.mistycoast.no)

Author rating: 8/10