Blaue Blume, Crush.

Composing incredibly beautiful, intricate songs is one thing, and something that Blaue Blume have now been doing for the better part of a decade. But smashing out true hits is another altogether. Of course, 2022 blessed us with some timeless classics of the genre: whether that be As It Was, Beg For You, Break My Soul, or LA FAMA. But perhaps improbably, the first to feature in ’23 comes from this Copenhagen-based trio, in the buoyant ebb-and-flow of Crush.

It begins with a guitar track evocative of Messrs Smith (Robert and Zachary Cole) in equivalent measure, before Jonas Schmidt limbers up for a typically gymnastic vocal performance that’s as well suited to this musical curveball as their repeatedly Cocteau Twinned previous. Taut drums rattle it along, Søren Buhl Lassen lending vernal spring to its proverbial step, with this more simple (if no less striking) musical palette complementing the song’s tender lyrical sentiment perfectly. “I don’t care if no one knows about us/ Your kiss is enough to know it’s a crush,” sings Smith in accordance with immortal popular song lore passed down since time immemorial, and this unanticipated triumph sounds entirely likely to inscribe itself into similarly illustrious histories.

Blaue Blume’s SoundCloud.