Mall Girl

“for fans of Deerhoof or Life Without Buildings, the Norwegian art-pop band offer a dreamy, crunchy assessment of the delights of laying on the beach and looking at the stars”
The Guardian

“a riot of contrasts; stuttering drums and ragged peals of guitar are set against warm, effulgent vocals”
The Line Of Best Fit

“playing with the Scandopop formula in thrilling ways—adding crushing guitars to candy-coated choruses, obliterating and then rebuilding the verse-chorus-verse structure”
TIME Magazine

“whatever direction they choose to follow, there is a real feeling that Mall Girl are a band at the beginning of something”
The Quietus

“an unrelenting math pop earworm”
Under The Radar

(27th October) –– Oslo trio Mall Girl today announce their new album Pure Love, out 26th January 2024 via Jansen Records and release eccentric new single (and self-described 'rock symphony') "Inzane". 

Pure Love is the second album from the Oslo art-pop experimentalists, following the band's acclaimed 2022 debut full length Superstar which received notable tips from The Guardian, TIME Magazine, The Quietus amongst others.

On the creation of new single "Inzane", Mall Girl shared:

"We had this song idea brewing for a while and whilst finalising the writing, we agreed that we should write our longest song yet. And boom, it became our little rock symphony. The song is like a wave of hurt and confusion that suddenly turns into a feverish, jazz dream. It all feels like going insane, on a normal Monday."

Adorned with bold string sections, crushing guitars and otherworldly jazz-inflected interludes, "Inzane" is anchored around vocalist Bethany Forseth-Reichberg's feverish exclamations of infatuation: "Do you see how I really crave you, honey? / Something about you makes me go insane"

Bethany Forseth-Reichberg along with guitarist Iver Armand Tandsether and drummer Veslemøy Narvesen combine to form one of the most uncompromising, unique and exhilarating pop outfits coming out of Scandinavia, with Bethany's exquisite voice and intriguing, impassioned prose providing the perfect counterpoint to Iver's explosive guitar work and Veslemøy's intricate percussion.

It was last year when Bethany and Iver had "a major kick on Midwest Emo" and "all things intricate guitar riffs" - as Bethany expanded on the influences at play...

"I had also just seen Big Thief live and felt like Adrianne Lenker had opened up a new pathway in my musical brain. After listening to 'Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You' on repeat for maybe a whole month and forcing Iver and Veslemøy to listen to the riff in 'Simulation Swarm' maybe equally as many times, the process of writing new music started."

An eclectic merging of influences ranging from indie-pop and jazz to midwest emo and math-rock, Pure Love, the second album from Mall Girl, thematically zeros in on just that, pure love. Through first breakups and dating through post-break-up pain and insecurities, the album finds the band proposing questions: “what do I believe in? Who do I want to become? and Where is my life headed?”.

Bethany went on to say: "I guess the album is like a break up album meets a Bildungsroman (is it like an episode of Girls? Maybe). Ironically, the “post-college-rock” sound could maybe go hand in hand with the post college experience I’ve had a go at writing about. I am glad we wrote this album and slightly (very) nervous to let people hear our take on Pure Love."

Mall Girl will release new album Pure Love on 26th January 2024 via Jansen Records. New single "Inzane" is out now.