The Singles Jukebox

The dream of the ’80s is alive…

[Video][Website]
[7.30]
Hannah Jocelyn: Anecdotally, a friend of my father’s was once asked to describe himself in three words, and on the spot, he came up with “neurotic, erratic, and erotic.” That describes this perfect piece of kraut-pop better than I ever could.
[10]

Alfred Soto: Beat-heavy homoerotic synth-goth, with thick bass like “Primary”-era Cure. Unlike many producers, Trentemøller can structure songs, and Jehnny Beth’s performance is purest Method, down to the hand gestures.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: This comes on like a 1982 post-punk fever dream, with Savages’ Jehnny Beth singing like an icier Siouxsie Sioux, and Trentemøller pulling out all the stops — including synthesized handclaps and a Hook-y bassline. There’s a sincerely warped bit of “Rock Lobster” in the musical DNA here, too. 1986 me (I wasn’t ready for this in ’82) would’ve listened to this on repeat for six months straight, rewinding the cassette over and over. 2016 me might yet do so.
[10]

Katie Gill: Sweet Jesus I’ve just been hit in the face by MTV. It’s so aggressively ’80s, throwing in handclaps, stylings of Echo and the Bunnymen, synthesizer backing, and, oddly enough, a little bit of Michael Sembello in that beat. Overall, it’s okay but the sheer aggressive 1980s nature of the song makes it hard to pay attention to the actual song.
[5]

William John: Jehnny Beth has a gift for building drama piecemeal even with the scrimpiest of lyrics, so it’s a shame it’s not until the coda of “River In Me” that she’s given much of an arrangement to work with beyond a genuflecting synth-goth facsimile. Her final frantic incantations revitalise the track, but I’m mostly left wondering what the song could’ve been had she been given the opportunity to really let rip.
[5]

Ryo Miyauchi: The credits first caught me by surprise, seeing such a quirky synth-pop track provide a home for the voice of Jehnny Beth, who’s known for intense seriousness with Savages. But Trentemøller’s lurching, metallic bass line matches Beth’s post-punk jitters. She’s looser and more relaxed here, perhaps taking advantage of being away from her main gig. The two are a good fit, yet the piece could’ve used the some of the hot tension found in Beth’s band. With the narrative about an unstoppable current, “looser and more relaxed” aren’t exactly the adjectives I should be using.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: I’d associated Trentemøller with mood music, not New Order, but I’m hardly averse to the latter. Shame “River in Me” ends just as it gets going.
[7]

Scott Mildenhall: “River in Me” is self-seriousness at its most fun, like watching a disconcerting version of The Crystal Maze in which all archness is removed. If Jehnny Beth was hosting and you got locked in the Aztec zone, she would most certainly genuinely leave you there, and that’s quite exciting.
[8]

Will Adams: Anders Trentemøller’s career has spanned an iTunes library’s worth of genres — from deep house to electro to minimal to cinematic alt-pop — but the common thread remains his moody, almost sinister approach. “River in Me” calls on his demonstrated knack for nervous uptempo but augments it with a giant synth riff. In just under three minutes, Trentemøller and Jehnny Beth conjure a frenetic new wave groove that I could ride on for hours.
[8]

A.J. Cohn: It would be nice for Trentemøller to give credit to Jehnny Beth, for it is due to her powerfully desolate vocal performance that this song is not just some unremarkable new wave-inspired track, but something almost haunting.
[7]