Tor Lundvall - A Strangeness in Motion: Early Pop Recordings 1989-1999 (2019)

Scrolling deeper than ever into Tor Lundvall’s private niches after a handful of albums and singles since the start of this decade, ‘A Strangeness in Motion (Early Pop Recordings 1989-1999)’ finds Lundvall clearly in thrall to the influence of New Order, Vince Clarke and the likes Hard Corps, and replete with angelic vocals that split the difference between Erasure and Hot Chip.

It’s exactly the kind of strapping but dreamy pop power-ups we crave, especially in his super pert dancer ‘Original One’, the brimming optimism of ‘The Melting Hour’, and the lush midnight flight of ‘The Night Watch’, but there are also some superb downbeat songs strewn between the soft focus drift and Paddy McAloon vibes of ‘Lessons That Kill’ and the gentle plangency of ‘Hidden’.