Somewhere Else
The title of Sally Shapiro’s third album gives a clue to the Swedish duo’s creative intentions. The appealing mix of throbbing Italo disco beats and caressing lovelorn vocals that defined the twosome’s earlier releases hasn’t been abandoned so much as refined and expanded on. The upbeat techno tingle of “If It Doesn’t Rain” and the day-glo atmospherics of “Starman” (the latter featuring Electric Youth’s Bronwyn Griffin) reaffirm producer/composer Johan Agebjorn’s ability to sustain a coolly erotic mood. More galvanizing are “All My Life” and especially “This City’s Local Italo Disco DJ Has a Crush on Me.” Slow-jam ballads like “Sundown” and silken pop tunes like “What Can I Do” add new tones to Sally Shapiro’s palette while maintaining the music\'s essential character. The duo’s anonymous lead singer shines most brightly on “I Dream with an Angel Tonight”: an ethereal reverie of unrequited longing that rides on waves of gently rippling synths. *Somewhere Else* takes Sally Shapiro into fresh terrain without losing touch with what made it so special in the first place.
Somewhere Else isn't quite a departure from Sally Shapiro's last two albums, but in among the sequencers and identikit drums are instruments from a more muted palette: flute, saxophone, and beats that skitter rather than shimmer.
Back in 2007, an indie hit came out of nowhere and from an unlikely source.