It seems like Finnish producer, singer and songwriter Islaja feels quite at home in Berlin by now since the weird and mystical sounds which she used to deliver to her committed international fanbase have almost entirely trailed away. Her new album S U U, released on Gudrun Gut’s label Monika Enterprises and produced by Danish Berliner Heidi Mortenson sounds so much more like dance floor than like Finnish forests and her work seems more rooted in Berlin than ever. It’s as if Björk had listened to a lot of DAF. Cold wave and electro pop took over, analogue synthesizers and drum mashines are outlining the framework for Islaja’s eccentric voice performance. And instead of nordic introspection it’s head-on slogan-lyric sung in English from «I let the shit hit the fan» to «I don’t need you. That’s okay.» Islaja is one of the most interesting characters in DIY underground music, an intoxicating performer, who has just impressively –as the phrase goes– reinvented herself. 

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