Maud's “Wherever I Go” is vibrational, claustrophobic, and undeniably shiny

Creating enveloping dance music tinged Nordic noir, producer and artist Maud (aka Kristine Hoff) has been playing across Europe in 2023 whilst simultaneously crafting her sophomore album, The Love That Remains. Her pulsating rhythms seem fitting for sweltering Mediterranean crowds but remain a far cry from her upbringing in deep Northern Norway, a place where the sun is fixed in limbo between never shining yet never setting.

It is hard to miss, though, how Maud's sonic palette pulls from the same sort of murky, synthetic mirage as that celestial Norwegian sky. Pairing warehouse beats with distant, delicate vocals, a louring yet glossy atmosphere shrouds the trance music she releases. In many ways it is transportative to imagery dancing in the cold outdoors, surrounded by towering snowcaps, and under streaks of bluey-greens and ultraviolet.

Her latest single, and last from the upcoming record, “Wherever I Go” distends with ticking synths and a vibrating chorus. “[This] is a song about feeling stuck after a breakup. You’re trying your best to move on, but wherever you go the other person is still around," explains Maud. "It’s claustrophobic, messy and overwhelming.” As such, the track swells in relentless fashion, only breaking for Maud to deliver a biting lyric (“ever since you fucked me up / I’ve been trying to find myself”).

She continues, “The song takes me straight back to a period in my life where my heart was really broken, but it also reminds me of how much I have grown since I wrote this song. That’s why it also stands out as an empowering song to me." Indeed, the song delivers a clear sense of loss and vulnerability - “I’m still waiting for someone to find me / I’m still looking for someone to get me,” she sings - but melded with the heady production the listener can tell Maud is fighting her way out of the heartbreak.

Having received the Arctic talent Award in August of last year, the largest and a very prestigious music scholarship grant in Northern Norway, and with her next album slated for release next month, 2024 is already shaping up to be a bumper year for Maud.