Molly Nilsson - Extreme
(c) 2022 Night School
Artist....: Molly Nilsson
Album.....: Extreme
Source....: WEB/WAV
Tracks....: 11
Genre.....: Electronic
Label.....: Night School
Encoder...: LAME 3.100
Quality...: 320 kbps / 441kHz / Joint Stereo
URL.......: http://mollynilsson.bandcamp.com/album/extreme
Tracklist:
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1. Absolute Power 3:49
2. Earth Girls 4:11
3. Fearless Like A Child 4:02
4. Kids Today 4:04
5. Intermezzo X - Wheel Of Fortune 3:36
6. Sweet Smell Of Success 4:21
7. Obnoxiously Talented 3:38
8. Avoid Heaven 3:37
9. Take Me To Your Leader 3:01
10.They Will Pay 2:42
11.Pompeii 4:31
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41:32
Total:99.97 MB / 41:32
Release Notes:
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ôThe letter X marks the spot, crosses over, literally with a cross. ItÆs the
former, the ex-. The ex-lover known simply as ôan exö. Ex- is the latin prefix
meaning ôoutö. Exterior, an exit. Extraordinary. Excellent. ItÆs exciting.
Generation X. X-files. X is the unknown. X is Extremeô
Extreme is Molly NilssonÆs tenth studio album. Recorded in 2019 and throughout
the 2020 global pandemic at home in Berlin, Extreme is a departure for Nilsson,
an explosion of angry love. ItÆs an album of anthems for the jilted generation,
soaked with joy and offering
solace, bristling with distorted, Metal guitars and planet-sized choruses that
bring light to the dark centre of the galaxy. ItÆs an album of the times, by the
times and for the people. ItÆs a record about power. About how to fight it, how
to take it and how to share it.
Absolute Power explodes with massive guitars, double kick beats and the
instantly iconic line ôItÆs me versus the black hole at the centre of the
galaxy.ö NilssonÆs performance itself portrays absolute power in its confidence
but the song is a call-to-arms, an entreaty to grasp the here and now, to take
the power back. ItÆs Nilsson pacing the ring and weÆre instantly in her corner.
Earth Girls takes familiar Molly Nilsson themes - female empowerment and
subverting the patriarchy - but casually throws in one of the choruses of her
career. ôWomen have no place in this worldö she sings, but itÆs the world that
isnÆt good enough. Stadium-sized but still warmly hazy, Earth Girls has its
fists in the air, glorifying in harmony, almost ecstatic in its feeling good.
NilssonÆs Springsteen-level conviction and righteousness bleeds through the
speaker cones, the cognitive dissonance between the songÆs cadences and angry
lyrics redolent of Bruce in his prime. Female empowerment isnÆt always an angry
energy on Extreme, however. On Fearless Like A Child, NilssonÆs anthem to the
female body and womenÆs sovereignty of it, she croons over a mid-80s blue-eyed
Soul groove. It sets a nocturnal scene as the narrator surveys her past and her
surroundings. Before weÆre fully submerged in a dreamlike, Steve McQueen-era
Prefab Sprout poem to learning from your mistakes the song erupts into one of
those lines only Molly Nilsson can get away with: ôI love my womb, come inside I
feel so aliveö she fervently sings. Against the backdrop of ever-encroaching,
conservative rulings on womenÆs reproductive rights in places like Texas, itÆs
simultaneously angry and full of love.
Every song on Extreme is a gleaming gem in a pouch of jewels. On Kids Today,
Nilsson is the voice of wisdom, archly commenting on the eternal struggle
between youth and authority. Wisdom infuses Sweet Smell Of Success with a
transcendent love that forgives the narratorÆs shortcomings and celebrates the
moment, itÆs a letter to the author from the author that asks ôwhat is successö
and concludes that this is it, this song, this moment. ItÆs a rare moment of
simple reflection that is generous in its insight to NilssonÆs inner life.
ôSuccessö is a tool of power and we donÆt need ità We need power tools and there
are moments on Extreme where it feels like Nilsson is showing us how to find
them. It's an open conversation through out Extreme. SheÆs a warm, comforting
presence through out the album and specially on these songs of encouragement,
songs perhaps sang to a younger Molly Nilsson or, really, to whomever needs to
hear them. ôTheyÆll praise your efforts, theyÆll
call you slurs a rebel, a master, an amateur / Merely with your own existence,
you already offer your resistance.ö
On Avoid Heaven sheÆs even more direct, pleading with us to avoid concepts of
purity and to embrace the glorious, ebullient, emotional mess weÆre often in as
a method of upending the power structures who need things to be perfect.
They Will Pay brings back the big, distorted power chords in the form of a
agit-punk, pop slammer. Of course, when Molly Nilsson does punk pop we get the
catchiest chorus this side of The Bangles or The Nerves. ItÆs rendered in an off
the cuff, throwaway manner that is just perfect in its roughness. However, itÆs
on Pompeii that Nilsson delivers the albumÆs epic, emotional heartbreaker. Like
1995 on NilssonÆs album Zenith, or Days Of Dust on Twenty Twenty, the lyrics of
Pompeii are heavy with a transcendent sadness, an aching poetry that cuts to the
truth of the heart like the best Leonard Cohen lines, though here delivered with
an uplifting, life-affirming love. It contains the most personal moments of
Extreme, a song lit by the dying embers of romance. Yet itÆs here where the
alchemy at the base of all NilssonÆs best work is found. Turning small nuggets
of personal truth into big, generous universal moments that invite everyone to
cry, to love and to fight the power. In an album of jewels, it might be the
shining star.
Molly NilssonÆs biggest, boldest and most vital album to date, Extreme is about
power. Against the love of power and for the power of love.