TUNES // Alice Phoebe Lou & OLMO – Devil’s Sweetheart

Post by Misha

During the winter of 2007 I was listening almost exclusively to Iron and Wine’s The Shepard’s Dog album. My boyfriend at the time was working for the Forest Service, and one night I drove to meet him at the cabin where he was staying. It was dark and Boy With A Coin played as I parked in the yard under the one streetlight and I noticed how it looked like a hole in the world with snow pouring and swirling out of it. It swallowed me and it was eerie and beautiful. A little bit lonely. Fleeting.

Devil’s Sweetheart exists in that world, too. The song unfolds in a cavernous darkness, eschewing standard verse-chorus-verse structure. It runs on the friction between a bow and its string, exhaling the mystery which causes a hurricane.

Alice Phoebe Lou is a South African artist with a powerful and haunting songwriting sensibility. Devil’s Sweetheart is a duet with Berlin-based OLMO, whom she met while busking. I can’t stop watching this exquisite video. Look for a new album from Alice Phoebe Lou out soon. She’ll also be touring the US this summer. Details here.