A whole six years after the masterpiece that is ‘Voyage’, this weekend sees the release of the follow-up album from Swedish duo The Sound of Arrows. ‘Stay Free’ has arrived, featuring two of our favourite singles of the year so far, ‘Don’t Worry‘ and ‘Beautiful Life‘. Other big highlights jumping out after the first few listens are ‘Moment In The Sun’, ‘The Greatest’, and ‘Wicked Ways’ – the last of those featuring the one and only Annie. Then there’s ‘Hold On’ which manages to sound something like Lana Del Rey sampling Faithless in order to create a track with the most genuine feel of the 90s that she can achieve. And for The Sound of Arrows at their most cinematic – we’ve got ‘Another World’. That one is crying out for an appropriate sync. And we’re crying out for the song to be doubled in length!
So much has changed in terms of our approach to album consumption and digestion in the six years since The Sound of Arrows last had a record out, but they’ve once again managed to put together a collection of songs that works beautifully as something that needs to be taken in completely and in full. So long as albums like this are being made, the format cannot die.
You can find ‘Don’t Worry’ on our Best New Synthpop playlist.
