All Worlds

Whenever Lust for Youths Hannes Norrvide and Malthe Fischer collaborate with Croatian Amors Loke Rahbek, the results are dramatic. Rahbek was a member of the band when they transformed their music into sweeping synth pop on albums such as 2014s International, and though he departed after the release of 2016s Compassion to concentrate on Croatian Amors fractured yet flowing soundscapes, they never truly stopped working together in some form. Sparked by a 2023 performance at the Sydney Opera House, All Worlds presents the next phase of Lust for Youth and Croatian Amors partnership. For inspiration, Norrvide, Fischer, and Rahbek looked to the field recordings and traditional music launched into space on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in the 70s. Known as the Golden Records, these collections aimed to tell anyone who encountered them something about how life on Earth sounded and felt. Croatian Amor and Lust for Youth accomplish something similar here: if polished, structured albums like International could be the soundtrack to heartbreak, the deconstructed, impressionistic approach they take on All Worlds feels like reliving memories of it. On "Friendzone," they capture the pain of limerence with fluty synths straight out of the 80s, fractured beats, and tweaked vocals not unlike the adolescent android that appeared on Oneohtrix Point Nevers Garden of Delete. Here and on the rest of the album, Lust for Youth and Croatian Amor blend their styles into unexpected but perfectly complementary hybrids. Fusing shoegaze with shuffling rhythms, "Passerine" feels like the next evolution of the zero-gravity euphoria pioneered by Chapterhouses "Pearl," while the mix of post-punk, hip-hop, and dance on "Dummy" and "Akkadian" give Lust for Youths drama a sleek new lease on life. Despite All Worlds constantly traveling sounds, Rahbek, Norrvide, and Fischer set a consistent mood, especially as ambient washes and kinetic beats dominate the albums second half. Whether they lean into Rahbeks skill at storytelling with found sounds on the beachy drift of "Velella Velella Wind Sailors" and the brooding "Lights in the Center" -- the closest the album comes to Croatian Amors Isa or Remember Rainbow Bridge -- or achieve peak danceability on "Kokiri," the feeling of longing and introspection remains. Seamless yet challenging, All Worlds should appeal to Lust for Youths more open-minded fans, but the new vistas it opens for the band are what make it exciting. ~ Heather Phares