The two songs that Carly Rae Jepsen has released since last year’s EMOTION outtakes record, Side B, have been bright, glittery serotonin kicks. On Danny L Harle’s “Super Natural,” Jepsen took the lead over muffled happy hardcore, singing about “easy love / Every day, euphoria.” And “Cut to the Feeling,” released in May, was all handclaps and disco guitars, Jepsen distilling her mission statement down to a song title.
There’s a new Carly Rae Jepsen song out this morning, though it’s been buried a little. “Trouble in the Streets” is on Bicycle, the new EP from BC Unidos. If you haven’t heard BC Unidos, that’s fine—the Swedish duo have only existed for a few months. They’re made up of Markus Krunegård, a singer-songwriter, and Patrick Berger, the dude who wrote Robyn’s “Dancing on my Own,” Charli XCX’s “Boom Clap,” and Icona Pop’s Charli-featuring “I Love It.”
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“Trouble in the Streets” sounds nothing like any of those! It sounds nothing like Carly Rae Jepsen’s most recent stuff either! It’s a shuffling piece of guitar-led indie-pop that, without Jepsen, could pass as a Bombay Bicycle Club B-side. Jepsen, inevitably, drags it out of mediocrity. Her delivery is pacy but never muddled, and she’s more melancholy than usual: “I like the way you got me scheming for you, dreaming for you / Won’t change your ways / No, can’t change your ways.”
There’s a Charli XCX song on here too. “I’m a Dream” is, again, a passable guitar-rock song that never really takes off. In place of a chorus, there are uncanny shimmers, bells, and coos to close out every verse. There’s a dash of Lily Allen, a bit of Arcade Fire, and nothing as entertaining as “I Love It” or “Boom Clap.”
You can listen to the whole EP below.
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