9/10

It feels like we have been waiting far too long for Norwegian upstart Marie Ulven aka girl in red to release her debut album. Having been releasing a flurry of singles and EPs as far back as 2017, her presence on the scene has grown from strength to strength after every cut, leading her to become one of the most hyped new artists of the year so far. And after another batch of offerings to preview this new collection in recent months, she has finally returned to deliver her long-awaited debut LP 'if i could make it go quiet', a release that thoroughly lives up to the buzz.

While she was first considered a strong piece of the bedroom-pop pie upon her initial entrance, 'if i could make it go quiet' sees her spread her creative wings a lot more than we were anticipating. Although there are plenty of cuts on here that follow her more formative direction, there is this wonderfully diverse approach she looks to establish from the very start, dabbling in the worlds of pop-punk and alt-pop as she goes. It is this brilliantly eclectic feel that really brings out the best in her work, adding this dense and flamboyant layer of ideas that see her explode with all the energy we have seen from her before.

Much like the debut efforts from Billie Eilish and Lorde in previous years, 'if i could make it go quiet' has been designed to make a bold impression, and it certainly does that without fault. Every song seems to have this larger-than-life quality to it, creating this vivid and vibrant selection of tracks that are always looking to impress and delivering a truly memorable record in the process.