Ready To Live A Lie
Who exactly is Sally Shapiro? The world may never know: Since emerging in the mid-2000s with perfectly melancholic Italo-disco throwbacks like “I’ll Be by Your Side,” the reclusive Swedish diva (technically half of the duo of the same name, alongside producer Johan Agebjörn) has preferred not to reveal her real name, pose for photos, or perform live. Nevertheless, the duo’s shy but pathos-ridden synth-pop garnered a decade of critical acclaim before they announced their retirement with the 2016 single “If You Ever Wanna Change Your Mind.” The title turned out to be apt: Sally Shapiro un-retired two years later, then released 2022’s *Sad Cities*, their first album since 2013. The duo don’t mess with the formula on *Ready to Live a Lie*, the second Shapiro album released through Johnny Jewel’s like-minded label, Italians Do It Better. But they’re as intriguing as ever on their lonely, nocturnal Italo anthems, murmuring sweet nothings over pulsing synths on “The Other Days” and unpacking trust issues on the twinkling “Guarding Shell”: “Lover, can you understand?/My shell is guarding me here where I stand.”