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Jun 01, 2021 Web Exclusive By Andy Von Pip

The Swedes certainly know thing or two about how to make soaring guitar-driven indie-pop. Norrköping-born, Stockholm-based singer/songwriter Linn Koch-Emmery released her debut single “Come Back” in 2016 and then made waves with her 2018 EP, the appropriately titled Waves, which shone a light on her ability to effortlessly craft evocative festival-ready anthems.

Now her debut album, Being the Girl, sees Koch-Emmery expand her sound, blending shoegazey guitar stylings and crunching grunge-pop with the occasional flourishes of Americana as thematically she expertly negotiates the line between despair and euphoria.

It’s an album of bittersweet beauty replete with soaring melodies and walls of guitar washes, with Koch-Emmery often sounding at her most forlorn on the quieter numbers such as the stripped back “Paralyzed” or the beautiful album closer “Lasershot.” But she really does have an unerring ability to write explosive hook-laden choruses as demonstrated by previous singles such as on the towering “Hologram Love,” “Blow My Mind,” and the anthemic “Hard to Love.”

Previous single “Linn RIP” highlights her dark self-deprecating humor and is according to the press notes about “being sick and tired of yourself” for making “the same mistake over and over until putting your personality on hold feels like the best solution.” The video, which features a gravestone bearing the song’s title, also features multiple “Linns,” all showing various iterations of her personality and perhaps one message to be taken from the track is to learn from your mistakes but also to learn be kinder to yourself. She’s described the album as being “diaristic” and centered on her own experiences and relationships, but there’s always a feeling that brighter days are ahead, and it never feels like self-indulgent navel-gazing.

And the songwriting talent clearly runs in the family, as Koch-Emmery’s twin sister Lea was the creative force behind Kid Wave who released one glorious album, Wonderlust, in 2015 before sailing off into the sunset. Linn Koch-Emmery, however, looks to be here for the long haul as she’s already been talking about her new material. But for now Being the Girl is a hugely enjoyable debut and showcases her ability to craft majestic swaggering guitar pop juggernauts imbued with real heart and shimmering fist pumping melodies. (www.facebook.com/linnkochemmery)

Author rating: 8/10