A haunting web of piano-led arpeggios writhe their ways through the latest release from Swedish-born producer and vocalist Tilda Allie. Titled ‘Theme II’, the artist’s last single is thoroughly artful and entirely captivating.
Based in London, Tilda Allie gets inspired by the frigid northern wilderness of her homeland as she crafts this cinematic journey of a song, expertly layered, and carefully calculated. The sophisticated music of Tilda Allie defies categorization, but somewhere deep in there I sense a heightened influence, maybe a reverence to the freeform and eccentric sensibilities of another Nordic legend, Björk. But thoroughly Tilda Allie maintains a distinct identity in her more uniform and rhythmically accessible yelps and vocal acrobatics, and in ‘Theme II’ her identity shines in a sublime job of vocal layering that plays spectacularly well against the backdrop of a gorgeously written piano part and a swelling arrangement of stellar strings that gracefully carry the whole arrangement from a modestly operatic opening to a dramatic, emotive crescendo as the vocal layering gets more intricate and as Allie’s performance becomes decidedly more pulling and momentous, before the arrangement slowly retreats back in size, leaving us thunderstruck, equally by the soul-rending composition, production, and arrangement, and by Tilda Allie’s thoughtful lyrics discussing existentialism and the capitalist world we live in.
‘Theme II’ is an eloquent piece of sophisticated chamber pop that will get your arms waving and your mind wandering with its thoughtful words and elegant music. A beautiful piece of work that readily demands attention.