Few musicians choose to portray the darker side of love. Having spent years as the understudy and writing for groups like Icona Pop, Sweden's Ebba Tove Nilsson took on the guise of Tove Lo and in her debut EP "Truth Serum" rebels against the tone of the music industry that frustrated her: that love could ever be simple, and that letting go doesn't leave ugly scars.
Tove Lo's expertise from her years as a name listed on the back of CD inserts shows in her perfect balance of a strong alto voice moving through emotions through soft and loud dynamics, backed by bouncing and crunchy beats that create a loud, open sound as though Ke$ha had taken a trip back to the '80s. But the biggest strength of "Truth Serum" is its status as a truth serum of sorts, a drug for listeners to realize the truth about love.Documenting a failed relationship that in an interview with BBC she said wasn't her first but by far her most intense, Lo crafts the story of love and loss that is inevitable in every relationship with sizable warts. Truth Serum excels because of a seamless plot from beginning to end. From a happy, vibrant puppy love and seduction in the bright, poppy "Love Ballad" flows into a bulletproof dance anthem in "Not On Drugs" that reassures listeners that Lo's love is true. As Lo's relationship lengthens, however, "Paradise" tells how the darkness creeps in from the corners as she croons a search for "love, for real, without the lies," rising out from the premature feelings of everlasting love to realize the flaws in a relationship. The next track, "Over," tells out the drunken throes of a breakup that is only finally dealt with in "Habits," where Lo battles her regret and sadness through a cocktail of drugs and partying, finally to accept the relationship has ended in "Out of Mind," by balancing the aftermath in not forgetting her love for her dearly departed while maintaining her independence. Through the seven-song sequence Lo leaves no aspect of this turmoil to question, and Lo has said in published reports that "Truth Serum" is autobiographical.Overall, "Truth Serum" feels condensed, but in the sense of having come directly from something much larger. It seems to have fallen straight out of the silver screen with its immaculately constructed plot and climax in "Habits." Just get the popcorn ready.TODAY'S SPONSOR: