Entertainment
Pieces
Erik Hassle | UniversalThis ruby fro’d 21-year-old was raised on American soul by hippie parents in a tiny Swedish village. But when he left to study music in Stockholm at 17, he got a crash course in Britpop — from Depeche Mode to New Order — and spent the next three years developing his own sound. The result? A brooding suite of 12 songs (rendered sweetly with age-and-genre-defying vocals) that is part Samantha Fox, part Sam Cooke (especially the angsty, melancholic singles “Hurtful” and “Don’t Bring Flowers”). For those who enjoy a little hit of refined audio sugar from time to time, a hassle it ain’t.