Review

Ilgen-Nur

It’s All Happening

Power Nap • 2023

Ilgen-Nur jumps from Wendlingen in Germany via Tocotronic to Los Angeles and says clearly: »It’s All Happening«. Julia Stone from south-west Germany is an indie singer-songwriter who fell in love with the ever-sunny US state during the pandemic: the second album by the just twenty-seven-year-old is the product of this. The fact that Ilgen-Nur seems to have had a good time there certainly comes across in the short half hour. The singer’s deep and soulful voice is imbued with a feel-good spirit that transforms everything into »momentary bliss«. After all, everything is a »Sweet Dream«, a »Star Light« that rises above the »Dream Of Hell«: an atmospheric picture among palm trees and lemon trees, happy-go-luckiness for the world-weariness cynics. Then, just as you’re about to sink into melancholy, the next major chord comes along to shake you out of your stupor. With the danger of stumbling reduced to a minimum, »It’s All Happening« lacks some of the pithiness or what usually shimmers beneath the surface. But perhaps Ilgen-Nur has a good argument for the cosy season that will counter the grey dreariness of the coming months. An autumn album, in other words.