You may recognise the name Say Lou Lou from the BBC’s Sound of 2014 nominations, or you may not, or you may recognise it from some other (but more “hip”) media outlet. Maybe you haven’t heard of them at all, maybe this is a nonsensical ramble…

Regardless of your prerequisite knowledge, first know the Say Lou Lou are a twin sister duo, and they make enthralling pop music – it’s the stuff of dreams, known more commonly as dream pop. Following numerous high quality singles, including ‘Everything We Touch’ and ‘Games For Girls’, and some release date delays, the duo’s debut album Lucid Dreaming is here for consumption.

That aforementioned single ‘Everything We Touch’ gets the album off to an enthusiastic beginning with its euphoric chorus as they proclaim that “everything we touch turns to gold at night.” Lacking in existential lyrics throughout, the less energetic ‘Glitter’ exhibits more of a lean towards the atmospheric tag of “dream pop” whilst retaining an undeniable danceability. Featuring Norwegian producer Lindstrøm, the sweet electronics of ‘Games For Girls’ are contrasted against the subdued and yearning tones of the spacious anthem ‘Julian’.

The dancefloor is temporarily evacuated of those who are too excitable, so that the lovers can have a moment of tenderness beginning with ‘Peppermint’ and lasting through ‘Beloved’ and the dynamic ‘Hard For A Man’ to ‘Wilder Than The Wind’ which features an endearingly sleep-inducing effect with its beautiful subtly. ‘Nothing But A Heartbeat’ reintroduces the concept of soaring choruses and rising melodies and vocals, and with its harmonic vocal touches among the thudding percussion makes it a worthy contender for the album’s best track. ‘Skylights’ seems to continue the formula of the preceding track to the album’s end, whilst twisting it into a more “conventional” form which sees the band at a potential commercial high, but musical low.

At the young age of 24, Miranda Anna and Elektra June Kilbey-Jansson have composed a promising debut record. Perhaps fraught with sibling tension throughout the writing and recording process, the finished product is sleek and polished pop music. Whilst the immediacy and energy of the music may defy its “dream pop” label it possesses adequate amounts of considered atmosphere to retain it. Whilst lacking in the marketability of worldwide sweetheart Taylor Swift, or other potential pop songstresses, Lucid Dreaming certainly provides a strong first impression of Say Lou Lou. A name to watch out for, and a record to write home about, these twin sisters and their penchant for entrancing composition may well take the world by storm yet.

Lucid Dreaming is available from Amazon and iTunes.

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘A Simple Design’ by The Juan MacLean

The Juan MacLean is coming with a new album this year, and this track kind of perfectly embodies what that band is about for me. You’ve got all the dancey goodness you can expect from a band whose most well-known track is called ‘Happy House’, but it also has this slight sci-fi/robot vibe to it, which gives it this innate Juan MacLeanness. This feel is enhanced to the max by those typical vocals by Nancy Whang, who sings on a lot of DFA bands, but on none are her vocals so fitting as when working with this band. This because she doesn’t only simply provide the vocals here, but that voice kind of seems to be part of the fabric. Obviously, there’s not only that thuddy drum sound which seems so typical DFA, but there are plenty of atmospheric synths as well, all which have some industrial/robotic vibe to them. And that’s the thing isn’t it, there’s such a clear vibe to this, almost detached in its robot studies, and yet it is also a song I would be dancing merrily to (if only for that springy piano sound that’s in there as well). In the chorus Whang sings that It is not a simple design / but I had it and everything you’ve build comes falling down. First of, this song is naturally not a simple design with lots going on, but the base structure providing the rhythm does provide these almost restrictions in its repetition, and in that falling down and the dancing you are free. It’s like a Robert Longo charcoal a bit. And, like those Longo’s, it’s absolutely awesome.

‘World Restart’ by Kindness feat. Kelela & Ade

This one starts lovely with that double feature of the horns and the two vocals, after which it kicks in some rhythm with the drums and bass. That trifecta really is the core of this track, with all kinds of secondary sounds providing extra atmosphere to it. I love the amount of horns on this one, it is rare you see that nowadays, especially with the horns being used in multiple ways (and right on through each other). I love how these horns sometimes come together, like they are being used as different layers as part of the whole structure, and then everything is stripped except for the two layers of horns, which suddenly work together in perfect unison. The vocals are silky smooth and give it a nice airy, dreamy feel, and Kindness does well to give the rhythm section enough deep vibes and punch to carry this one forward and keep it semi-dancey. New album coming out, so stay tuned.

‘Games for Girls’ by Say Lou Lou & Lindstrom

Lindstrom gets the dancing going on this one, immediately coming out of the gates with that catchy, space-discoey sound that certainly sounds like it should get all the girls dancing. At about fifty seconds in he comes with some light piano, after which he dives into a deliciously catchy instrumental for a little while. Plenty of Say Lou Lou here as well, with the vocals being very prominent. In that sense it is really close to, you know, a pop song, really. One I could actually see played on the radio. It’s got the timeframe (3:20), it is structured like one, and the lyrics “little boys with fancy toys”, that certainly seems the kind of thing kids would just love to be singing with its implied naughtiness. Aside from the start, where one can hear a shimmer of deepness, the track is really light sounding, really easy on the ear, and, above all (and that is certainly the one thing that draws me to it) really catchy.

‘Lotusland’ by Telephones (Discodromo remix)

This one starts by letting you listen to the seaside for a bit, though after about sixteen seconds in, nature is rudely disturbed by this deep bass sound that seems to come straight out of a Mojito commercial with its hip shaking madness. Discodromo quickly adds some percussion and, ehrm, ducks, dials down the bass for a moment, and at 1:35 he adds some extra drums to give this track some oomph for the dancing again. A little later he adds a spacey sounding synth (which I wasn’t expecting to be honest), and soon enough more keys come in to balance out all the deeper bass and drum sounds, giving it some atmosphere and momentum as opposed to just rhythm. In the mean time that bass is still rolling like there’s no tomorrow, so you definitely still have that core sound to be dancing to. By the midway point this track has evolved into this fully fledged sound, with plenty of stuff going on on top of the rhythm, which slowly gets dialled down a bit for Discodromo to come back with the beat at about 5:20 to help you finish this song dancing. I love how this one is set up, immediately coming out with that bass to get you dancing, and then just adding layer upon layer to patiently create the song whilst everyone is already on the dancefloor. Lovely remix by Discodromo.

‘I Feel It Comin On’ by NY Stomp feat. Matthew Kirkwood

NY Stomp is Dutch producer Gerd, and this lad knows a thing or two about house sounds, and he certainly puts that on display here. He teases with the beat for the starting minute or so, with the soulful vocals of Matthew Kirkwood singing that He feels it coming on, though the only thing NY Stomp gets on are the house-y piano sounds that do provide the vibe and flavour of house, though the real dancing has to wait for when the beat comes in to complement that piano, which is at about 1:30. So you’ve got the beat, the piano, and those vocals that have yet to differ from that one party line he’s been singing all the way through; and all of that gives you this really old school house vibe one can’t help but get jacking to in the club. So if you want a nice slice of old school house, this one is there for you to get your game on I reckon, with this stream obviously being a clip as a “real” house tune will have you at it for at least double its length.

‘Rain’ by Wrong Steps

The Boiler Room presents, and if The Boiler Room presents you can bet your little hiney that you can do some form of dancing to it. In this case, it presents Wrong Steps, and what Wrong Steps provides is this unpolished, garage like dance tune with plenty of dance music trademarks (just listen for a few seconds after the two minute mark and you’ll find that traditional base sound that everyone knows and can dance too), but on top and next to that it is a pretty experimental little humbug this one. It is definitely an intriguing one with multiple layers that often seem to run slightly off of each other, creating this double layer effect which is kind of odd and nice at the same time. If you listen from about 3:30 to 4:20 you get a nice idea of that, with plenty of experimental electronical sounds, but always returning to some form of an “easy” beat to dance to. So it never loses connection with the dance side of it, making it useable in the club, but always exhuming this underground vibe with the grainy, non 4-on-the-floor sounds. Definitely one I can just imagine hearing in a small Berlin club or something.