Album: MØ - Plæygirl

Scandinavian singer injects a dash of outsider melancholy into her fizzing electro-pop

Danish singer MØ is a paradox. Initially she appeared to be another Scandi electro-pop princess of the bangers. The monster 2015 hit “Lean On” with Major Lazer jacked her profile, briefly, through the roof, but, while she’s worked with everyone from Iggy Azalea to DJ Benny Benassi, she seemed to step sideways from pure pop, tempering it with something more Nordic and melancholy. Her fourth album persuasively continues in this direction.

Ed Atkins, Tate Britain review - hiding behind computer generated doppelgängers

Emotions too raw to explore

The best way to experience Ed Atkins’ exhibition at Tate Britain is to start at the end by watching Nurses Come and Go, But None For Me, a film he has just completed. It lasts nearly two hours but is worth the investment since it reveals what the rest of the work tries hard to avoid openly confronting – grief.

Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre - Luke Thallon triumphs as the state succumbs to storms

★ HAMLET, RSC Rupert Goold's staging lends a gnawing, troubling, transatlantic relevance 

The iceberg cometh

The date, projected behind the stage before a word is spoken, is a clue - 14th April 1912. “Why so specific?” was my first thought. My second was, “Ah, yes”.

Festen, Royal Opera review - firing on every front

★★★★★ FESTEN, ROYAL OPERA No slack in Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic treatment of the visceral first Dogme film 

No slack in Mark-Anthony Turnage's operatic treatment of the visceral first Dogme film

So the Royal Opera had assembled a dream cast, conductor (Edward Gardner) and director (Richard Jones). The only question until last night was whether composer Mark-Anthony Turnage would be at his remarkable best. His operatic journey has been uneven, but one thing is now certain: adapting the first Dogme 95 movie, Festen by Thomas Vinterberg, so shocking at a time (1998) when the issue of child abuse rarely surfaced in drama, has yielded music theatre of flawless pace and range.

Northern Winter Beat 2025, Aalborg review - The Courettes, Dungen and Lubomyr Melnyk confront ideas of how to play

NORTHERN WINTER BEAT 2025, AALBORG Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing

Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing

The exhortations don’t seem necessary as the audience is already letting off the steam which has built up in anticipation of a full-bore show. Nonetheless, The Courettes’ Flávia Couri knows higher levels of excitement are there to be tapped, that it’s possible to get the crowd to liberate themselves from any restraint they may have left. Limits are there to be pushed.

Prisoner, BBC Four review - jailhouse rocked by drugs, violence and racism

★★★★ PRISONER, BBC FOUR Jailhouse rocked by drugs, violence and racism

Sofie Gråbøl joins a powerful cast in bruising Danish drama

The notion of prison as a pressure cooker of human behaviour and emotions is hardly a new one, but it can provide formidable fuel for drama. It does so here in this ferociously gripping Danish series, which hails from the same production company as The Killing and The Bridge. It also boasts a forceful roster of acting talent, not least Sofie Gråbøl (aka Sarah Lund from The Killing) and David Dencik (from Chernobyl and McMafia, among other things).

Northern Winter Beat 2024 review - Julie Byrne, Alabaster DePlume, Deerhoof and Mary Ocher triumph in Denmark

Through music, the Danish third city Aalborg asserts its regional presence

You’re here. I’m so happy you’re here. You’re alive. You’re doing so well. Living is so hard. We’re alive. Have you suffered? When we’re alive, we suffer. We suffer to be alive. You must have suffered.

Albums of the Year 2023: Cécile McLorin Salvant - Mélusine

The jazz-rooted boundary breaker stood out in a highlight-filled year

If Mélusine is encountered without knowing its background or themes it would still be remarkable. There is no need to know anything about what frames this journey through Chanson Française, electronica, jazz and show-tune sensibilities with lyrics in English, French, Haitian Kreyòl and Occitan. For all these aspects, Cécile McLorin Salvant’s seventh album is striking enough.

Denk, Danish String Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - metaphysical strings, the piano as chameleon

★★★★★ DENK, DANISH STRING QUARTET, WIGMORE HALL Metaphysics and sheer brilliance

Programming disorded by delayed flight, but the effect was still dizzyingly brilliant

Few pianists manage stylistic perfection in both Mozart and Ligeti, but to Jeremy Denk it seems to come naturally. We should have heard the riveting contrasts in quick first-half succession, but European air traffic control had wasted much of the Danish String Quartet’s day and they hadn't arrived by the start of the concert. So perfect programming went out the window and Ligeti had to stand alone before the interval.