"Halcyon Days" is a thing of fading beauty from China Yggström

02 March 2018, 11:15 | Written by Andrew Hannah

(Tracks)

(China Yggström)

You might know her best as one of Korallreven's collaborators, but Swede China Yggström has been quietly releasing excellent singles for a few years now.

Adding a last name to her artist moniker since the Swede's "Wait" single, China Yggström's new track "Halcyon Days" might be her best work yet.

With wonderful production from Hanna Brandén's Name The Pet, the song has the familiar rush of the Balearic to it, but there's also a grand orchestral sweep guided along by Yggström's delicate-yet-passionate vocal. If songs were a colour, this would be a series of faded blue hues hinting at melancholy and regret.

"I have a hopelessly romantic and bittersweet tendency in my lyrics," says Yggström, "where suppressed passions and heartbreak, apparently, are recurring themes. But then woven within the fabric is a Phoenix rising, where I shake off the ashes and ascend.”

If there's any chance of an album this year from China Yggström, it could be the only collection of heartbreak bangers you'll need in 2018.

"Halcyon Days" is out now.