When Finnish singer-songwriter Alma-Sofia Miettinen, AKA Alma, broke by in 2017, it was with a club-ready, escapist vitality. Her hit single, Chasing Highs, layered a constructing synth motif and thumping bassline with an earworming chorus that caught the eye of Charli XCX and Swedish super-producer Max Martin. 2020’s debut album, Have U Seen Her?, continued largely in the identical vein, however follow-up Time Machine now places the heady pop bangers apart in favour of introspective songwriting that produces uneven outcomes.
Working with certainly one of Martin’s in-house producers, Elvira Anderfjärd, Miettinen channels the Swedish pop affect on the sprightly Abba-style key change of Inform Mama and on the ascending string strains of Summer time Actually Damage Us. The tender confessionals come, in the meantime, on the piano ballad Hey Mother, Hey Dad, the place Miettinen addresses the pressures of sustaining a cheerful household, whereas I Forgive Me pits her self-love in opposition to the absolution of others. It exhibits admirable maturity for the 27-year-old, however whereas her lyrics could be extra nuanced, the music turns into homogeneous with out the danceable thump of her earlier work. Time Machine is the file of an artist trying to find larger which means however at the price of enjoyable.