Jury's reasoning With her second solo album, Thea Hjelmeland establishes herself as one of the country's most exciting songwriters. It's been a long time since such a tasteful and competent blend of genres and languages as we experience on Solar Plexus. The songs are each strong and communicative, but it is in the common thread and the whole of this release that […]
/ 18/11/2015 / codexThe jury's reasoning
With her second solo album, Thea Hjelmeland establishes herself as one of the country's most exciting songwriters. 
It's been a long time since we've seen such a tasteful and competent mix of genres and languages as we experience on Solar Plexus.
The songs are individually strong and informative, but it is in the common thread and the whole that this release really shines.
The main themes of the release are grief and loss, and through the lyrics, Hjelmeland provides caring, painful, warm and violent perspectives on how a personal tragedy can unfold.
Musically, the pop genre is continually challenged by electronic elements, folk, rock, world music, and more.
The strength of the album lies in how the lyrics and music complement each other. Through the sometimes hopelessly dark and emotionally chaotic, there is an impressive control and playfulness in the songs and the album as a whole. It never becomes predictable and obvious, but remains in an intricate but restrained mix of rough elegance and sophisticated unruliness. This is further enhanced by Hjelmeland's vocals that tastefully move between the soft and careful to the powerful and insistent.