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Albin Lee Meldau's Unsettling Take On Mental Illness And Addiction

Swedish singer-songwriter Albin Lee Meldau has a profoundly arresting voice that delivers an emotional gut punch with every brooding phrase.

In his chilling new video for the song "Lou Lou," Meldau takes a single, wrenching scene and freezes it in time. Made with one unflinching, steadicam shot, it's an uncomfortably intimate look at the moment paramedics arrive to save a woman who's suffering a drug overdose. Nobody moves. Everything has stopped. It feels particularly helpless and hopeless.

"For me, this video is real," Meldau tells NPR Music in an email. "It's a dark story about being in the midst of addiction, mental illness and drug abuse. This song was written about a girl. Unfortunately in my country, she's one of many."

"Lou Lou" is from Meldau's Lovers EP, released late last year. He's since signed with Astralwerks, with a full-length coming later this year.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Robin Hilton
Robin Hilton is the Senior Podcast Producer for NPR Music and hosts the New Music Friday episodes of All Songs Considered. He is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose original scores have appeared in podcasts, films, radio programs and other works. He arranged and performed the theme for NPR's Weekend All Things Considered and composed and performed its elections coverage theme. You can hear more of his music here.