Have U Seen Her? Alma

• 1Have U Seen Her?02:42
• 2LA Money02:53
• 3Worst Behaviour02:41
• 4Stay All Night02:47
• 5Bad News Baby03:20
• 6Nightmare02:31
• 7Mama02:58
• 8King Of The Castle03:27
• 9My Girl03:27
• 10Find Me03:17
• 11Loser03:12
• 12Final Fantasy03:37
• Total Runtime36:52

Info for Have U Seen Her?

It’s finally here. The long-awaited debut from Finnish cyber-pop star ALMA, Have U Seen Her? is filled with the catchy soundscapes we’ve come to know and love while seesawing within a new, mature experimental sonic range.

Opening with the anthemic and brash titular track, ALMA’s half-shouting, half-sung, verses are layered over a trap-tinged instrumental, delivering a top-notch banger straight off the bat. But it’s follow-up track “LA Money” where things get interesting.

Amidst the electro-pop heaven sits layers of atmospheric beats and swirling strings, however, more poignantly comes a candid look at the downside to ‘making it’, and the nefarious people that can appear. It also makes for a perfect transition into the first album highlight, "Worst Behaviour”. ALMA’s husky vocals, marry perfectly the poignant lyricism about balancing the judgemental people in one’s life with your own drive to work hard, the expansive soundscape shifting flawlessly into the super catchy and punchy chorus – “round and round and round / keep em’ till I hit the ground”

Truly, the strength of Have U Seen Her? lies in its shift away from the EDM bombardment of ALMA past and instead dabbles with a myriad of soundscapes; from the grooving simplicity of “Stay All Night”, the bold pop of “Bad News Baby” and even the thunderclaps of “Nightmare”, this 12 track offering is an exploration into just where ALMA wants to be in 2020.

Growth and development aside, if there’s one thing that’s undeniable it’s that ALMA can write a chorus. But on “Mama” she finds her way to elongated verses, creating a pantheon to her own issues that have clearly aided and abetted the journey to Have U Seen Her? It’s certainly the black sheep of the collection, decidedly more experimental in its instrumentation and off-kilter vocal delivery which hides away ALMA’s brilliant voice.

Stepping into the realms of R&B, “My Girl” is bonafide floor filler but keeps its feet firmly in a realm of sensuality, similar to “Find Me”, exposing the love and loss that we’ve all felt, but in true pop fashion it’s coated in a sugary soundscape to make the tangible feelings manageable.

ALMA’s confidence to explore just where she wants her sound to go is commendable, but her heart-on-sleeve honesty is the most remarkable facet. Even on the penultimate “Loser” – which centres on self-confidence and needing only yourself to be happy - comes a brilliant slow-burn offering that holds a mirror up to insecurity because sometimes these things can’t be hidden by the rage of electronic instrumentation.

Overall, Have U Seen Her? strikes a great balance between rocking out with piercing, lacerating soundscapes and soothing nerves with heartfelt songwriting encompassed in diverse melodies. The balance falters at points but it’s never irreparable as ALMA rights it again with the natural magnetism of her music, which begs the question: if you haven’t seen her yet, then what are you waiting for? (Malvika Padin)

ALMA

Alma
Hoe-ho! Yodelling – freely interpreted this is the Esperanto of Alpine music. Can a world-aid language serving international communication have a sister language in Alpine regions? It can indeed. The beautiful sounding language melody of yodelling can unmistakably forward messages where official language never manages to express emotional moods, and can also overcome language barriers.

If one frees the yodel syllable mentioned above (hoe-ho) of its consonants, the result is oeo, the title of the programme. ALMA again presents ‘contemporary folk music’, this time from a new perspective: in their new compositions ALMA try for a short time to fade out the terrible events going on in the world, which nevertheless cannot be avoided, so as to submerge themselves in an idyll, yet without forgetting the omnipresent horrors and ills of our world. If in so doing a feeling of homeland arises, all the better. Perhaps even feelings of socialisation become apparent but with no spatial reference – only in the heart.

And while we are talking about the heart: the landler is the original form of Austrian folk music. Packed inside is the heartbeat – really! The emphasis in this three-four rhythm genre is on bars one and three. This produces a rhythm that resembles a healthily beating heart muscle: bum-bum, bumbum. The conclusion from this is that ALMA not only play soul music, it goes even deeper: heart music!

This album contains no booklet.