7/10

There's something wonderfully ambitious about the way Nils Lassen structures 'Rain Steam Speed'. Throughout this new offering, the Danish composer shapes his second solo album as a journey from morning to dusk, allowing birdsong, rain and shifting textures to act as recurring markers as the record slowly moves through the day.

Inspired by J.M.W. Turner’s Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway, he takes that image of movement, disruption and old structures giving way to new ones and translates it into a collection of love songs written for a world that rarely feels settled.

As it plays, dream-pop haze sits beside post-punk restraint, while guitars, keyboards and layered harmonies continually blur the line between intimacy and something far more cinematic. The presence of Tomas Ortved on drums, Kitty Drue on guitar, and backing vocalists Anders Wallin and Marianne van Toornburg gives the record a sense of physicality beneath its more ethereal surface.

Previously-released singles ‘Under Your Spell’ and ‘Somersault’ show two sides of that balance particularly well. The former leans into uncertainty and surrender, while the latter feels lighter and more open, creating a brief sense of release within the wider arc.

Comparisons to Talk Talk and Slowdive make sense, especially in the album’s use of space and texture, but his writing feels more reflective than anything comparative. His songs accumulate mood patiently, letting small melodic and instrumental details gradually reshape the emotional tone throughout.

Thoughtful, immersive and beautifully paced, 'Rain Steam Speed' finds Nils Lassen turning uncertainty into something expansive and strangely comforting. It's an album about motion that understands the value of standing still long enough to notice what is changing.