8/10

With her eagerly-awaited new album 'Whirlpool', Faroese artist FRUM looks to build a warm and tender world that pulses with vulnerability, strength, and quiet defiance. The record is an immersive meditation on becoming, with each track orbiting around themes of transformation, self-realisation, and feminine presence.

Rather than reaching for spectacle, FRUM offers something more elusive. The album’s opening moments gently usher you into her universe, with ambient tones and rhythms that feel more like breath than beat. From there, 'Whirlpool' unfolds in waves of kinetic textures and simmering tones.

Standout single 'Sun Aura', co-produced by Norwegian artist Moyka, captures this ethos perfectly. Its burn is slow and deliberate, but the glow it leaves behind looks to leave a lasting impression. Elsewhere, songs like 'Orbit With You' and 'Rise' showcase FRUM’s knack for melodic propulsion without sacrificing emotional depth. The synths shimmer, the rhythms glide, and her vocals guide us like a steady hand through shifting emotional tides.

Crafted across years and landscapes, from Icelandic stillness to the pulse of Bergen’s creative underground, 'Whirlpool' also marks a deliberate shift in production philosophy. Centreing women behind the scenes, FRUM quietly reclaims the process as part of the product. It’s the kind of record you return to for clarity. In a world that often demands speed and noise, FRUM offers the patience to feel it all.