AMBER ARCADES

HeAvenly european Heartbreak 8/10 Dutch dream-pop waif upgrades her musical wardrobe

Annelotte de Graaf’s 2016 debut Fading Lines was an agreeable assortment of plaintive indie-pop confections, but on this follow-up she seems to have her sights set a little higher. Essentially, songs such as “Oh My Love” and “Goodnight Europe” are still modestly love-lorn, undulating acoustic reveries, but the arrangements – smoky, aromatic brass, languid organ, silky strings and subtle wisps of electronica – now lend them a transcendent grace that repeatedly pricks up your ears. Her faintly punchdrunk voice sometimes sounds just a kilojoule of energy (or lack thereof) from uninterested, but just as often she’s as winsomely weary as she is vulnerable, and the impeccably stylish decoration seals our seduction. Johnny Sharp