Today Sweden's Hybris label releases Rule of Thirds, the enchanting debut album from Azure Blue, solo project of Stockholm's Tobias Isaksson. Framing the record as a look back at his life's three breakups lets Isaksson reminisce lyrically and sonically—singing wistfully about former flames over music nostalgic for the heyday of Factory Records. His touch is tender and light, and the album's best songs—"The Catcher in the Rye," "Little Confusions" and "Dreamy Eyes"—always swing to the sky, riding up on decades of learning from drum machines and tangled relationships. I'm sorry that I never took your picture right at the early break of day, he sings on the final track. It's a hugely romantic record, bathed in feelings of regret but also a certain fullness from having been involved in the first place. But the wave rode on from the breaker to another, my love, he concludes, and it ain't ever all alone. Next month Matinée releases Rule of Thirds in the US.
