Aurora ★★★ The Gods We Can Touch DECCA. CD/DL/LP

Third album from Norway’s Billie Eilish-influencing wonder voice.

Aurora Aksnes’s remarkable, malleable voice and smart songwriting inspired Billie Eilish to write her own songs. With this in the rear view mirror, the charismatic Norwegian now has chartbuster written all over her. The follow-up to 2019’s A Different Kind Of

Human (Step 2) has edgy, personal lyrics – during A Dangerous Thing, Aksnes sings, “when you are with me, you are cold and abusive”

– but too often frames them within archetypal Nordic electro-dance-pop arrangements. Perhaps unsurprising, as among the names littering the production and co-writing credits are Sigrid producer Magnus Skylstad, Emma Bunton/Rag’n’Bone Man collaborator Jamie Hartman and Joy Crookes associate Glen Roberts. The most satisfying