Viktor Persson, the Swedish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who records as Late Verlane, recently graduated from Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory. It’s the same tertiary institution that birthed Smerz, the Oslo duo who now make brilliant-but-tapped techno-leaning pop music. But you wouldn’t know that from listening to Late Verlane’s new single “Poolside,” a fascinating piece of pop songwriting that recalls 70s singer-songwriter greats like Billy Joel and Elton John as if recorded by Malay. Hypnotic and immersive, “Poolside” builds and builds, its central piano loop never resolving or exploding. Fittingly, Persson describes the song as being about “seeing love as a fantasy that is unreachable, keeping the drive in you moving forward.”
“I’ve played on my parents piano since I was 10 years old. I wrote it on the piano while I was visiting my parents in Gothenburg,” Persson tells The FADER via email. “My idea with this song was to experiment with the intimate and familiar feeling of writing something in your parents house, and twist it into something more adventurous and otherworldly. I'm inspired by 70's Elton John and the way he created uplifting piano ballads. I want to do my own take on piano ballads and the worn out image it has, twist it into something weirder and more fun.”
Watch the video for "Poolside" above.
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