If you’re in need of a soundtrack to your summer crush – or just a song to have a summer crush on – consider Norwegian trio Sassy 009’s Pretty Baby, a pulsing, sensual track that, according to the band, “flirts with being obsessed with someone without knowing what you’re attracted to”. The three – Teodora, Sunniva and Johanna – went to school together in Oslo, and although they joked to i-D that “our first impressions of each other were: ‘Basic b*tch, I would never play in a band with her!’’’, they nonetheless ended up crafting dance tracks using a pirated verson of Logic Pro X, their voices and, incongruously, Johanna’s flute playing.
Named after Sunniva’s SoundCloud profile name, they have an improvised feel in the best possible sense, a playful looseness. There is also, considering the small number of tracks they’ve released to date (Pretty Baby was followed by debut EP Do You Mind in November), a pleasing breadth to their sound, from spoken-word reverb-y darkness of Summin’ You Up to the dreaminess of Are You Leaving, which steals the flute solo back from prog with aplomb. They’re currently working on their debut album. Before that, you can catch them at the Great Escape and Field Day festivals – but it looks like it’s going to be more than a summer fling.
The Great Escape, Brighton, 17-19 May; Field Day, London, 1-2 June.
