Last September Kate Boy came to Boston on the strength of a handful of promising singles and that trusted Swedish electronic pop pedigree. “Northern Lights” and “The Way We Are” were dark, complex electro-pop offerings from the Stockholm trio, but their 40-minute live set — at the Pill dance party in Allston, we’ll remind — suggested more earworm strobe-light traxxx were on the way.
Today, we get our first taste off the upcoming debut LP, of which details are still a bit scarce. But who needs details when you have a hall-of-mirrors banger like “Self-Control,” which is available for streaming pleasures below.
The song takes Kate Boy into the upper-echelon of modern (alt-) dance-pop, shaking off those Knife comparisons and crafting a dynamic sound that’s increasingly recognizable; Australian-born Kate Akhurst elbows her way to the front of the song with her distinct echo-box vocals, and production from composers/multi-instrumentalists Markus Dextegen and Hampus Nordgren Hemlin really add a layer of musical muscle that allows the synths and beats to ride shotgun. This isn’t a “unique pop star sings over generic beats” sort of thing; each player in Kate Boy adds their own touch to the track.
And as a result, “Self-Control” is worth putting on repeat until you’ve explored all the sounds (and if you don’t, preferring cheap thrills, it still serves as a catchy surface-to-air pop song). The depth here is really impressive, and we can’t wait to hear what’s next from Kate Boy.
We knew this was coming.