Main Character is a well-balanced, intriguing offering from Glüme

But in a delightful, meta way, Main Character soundtracks a curious, free-flowing world of selves totally in keeping with the title. Glüme has composed her own musical in three acts in which she stars as the titular main character and antagonist, and it makes for excellent watching.

Act 1 sees Glüme at her vibrant, bright best, opening Main Character with a handful of sparkling pop bangers. After the reflective beginnings of “Child Actor”, Glüme absolutely comes into her own on “Do Me A Favor”: simultaneously end-credits energy and opening-montage optimism, pairing lyrics about escapism with bubbly synths and sprawling production that could soundtrack any number of excited new beginnings. It’s a good note to open the new chapter of Main Character on, and fittingly cinematic too. In a similar vein, "Dangerous Blue" is pure euphoria, glittering in falsetto and blending a pulsing club beat with dizzy, delicate melody lines, and even punctuating the rhythms with huge orchestral flourishes. “Wedding Cake Shop” is one of the record’s most avant-pop moments, a breathless walking bass and vivid storytelling alongside pure playfulness.

“Flicker Flicker” employs a darker tone, with murmured vocals over trap beats, but it’s still sensual and based around a catchy, coy hook and grounded in slick production. Glüme is at her best when she’s toying with quintessential pop tones and prodding them towards her boundaries, and it shines across Main Character.

But the album's arc leaves Glüme able to play around with more than just pop, and even where not as memorable, there’s always a tangible sense of freedom. Ekphrastic and mellow, “Brittany” is a swimming ode to the queen of moody pop, Lana Del Rey, and it’s a charming homage; the title track, a duet with Rufus Wainwright is a lilting, string-backed ballad that wouldn’t be out of place off-Broadway; “Queen of LA” strives to hold up a sardonic mirror to the City of Angels and almost blooms as magnetically as the album’s earlier tracks in it’s sprawling, metropolitan musicality.

Glüme does still have showstoppers in store, though: “Main Character Overture” is precisely what it says it is. A stunningly arranged, full-orchestra masterpiece that runs through the album’s hooks and themes through woodwind, string flourishes, timpani and melodrama – somehow, Glüme has converted the most polished pop into a classical masterpiece with symphonic fluctuations in mood. It’s ambitious and pulled off with precisely the right amount of flair.

What Glüme nails, across the swaying runtime of Main Character, is crafting the sonic stage that her story occupies. There are always going to be moments that beg the spotlight, the brightest and best, so there must be moments that don’t call for attention and maintain the aesthetic. Main Character is well-balanced, intriguing, and definitely shines when needed – it’s had a good opening night.