Astrid Swan

Deeply touching fifth LP from award-winning performer.

Finnish singer-songwriter Astrid Swan draws on American influences, mixing lush, intelligent pop with the clear-eyed sensibilities of the far North. She has much to write about; at 39, her stage IV breast cancer has metastasized to her brain. An idiosyncratic vocalist with echoes of Rickie Lee Jones and Laurie Anderson, she’s produced a lulling, funky, passionate farewell to her young daughter; thoughts on life, love and loss that work for us all. In Drift, whispered lyrics are edged by delicate piano and sweeps of strings, while gorgeous Silvi’s Dream ramps it up, Swan roaring like Kate Bush. Not Your Mom is hooky country-rock: at night, “I pick up all the fallen stars/So you can stick them on your ceiling…” There are songs about relationships, angels, bitterness. “Love me more,” she implores on Daughter.

And it’s either her daughter’s request, or Swan’s.