Lust For Youth

As Lust for Youth, Hannes Norrvide cranked out three albums in two years, and his artistic growth was just as swift and prolific. His biggest step forward comes with International, an album that finds him moving into new territory and excelling at it. Now a trio thanks to the addition of producer Malthe Fischer as well as longtime collaborator Loke Rahbek, it's fitting that this is Lust for Youth's most expansive-sounding set of songs yet. It's also their most melodic, something that the chiming opening track "Epoetin Alfa" makes clear immediately: its fizzy synths and crooning vocals place the song closer to New Order or Depeche Mode than Throbbing Gristle. This pop sensibility was hinted at as far back as the Chasing the Light single and occasionally on Perfect View, but International plays like the mirror twin of those releases, delivering jaunty synth pop with an edge as opposed to foreboding music with the occasional hook or melody peeking through.