Choir of Young Believers

If there's one word to describe the debut album from Denmark's Choir of Young Believers, it's "evocative." Everything about this group's music sounds like the emotional climax of a film. Opening track "Hollow Talk," with its epic drum rolls and haunting background melodies, makes me want to fight the English for oppressing my country for centuries. "Next Summer" feels like you're watching a prize-fighter pull one last round out of himself to win the match and "Action/Reaction" might as well be a lost track from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. It's all the work of Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, whose beautiful voice finds a balance between the yearning of Coldplay's Chris Martin and the otherworldliness of Sigur Rós's Jonsi Birgisson. It's rare that you can find a group capable of creating such dense orchestral pop that's both interesting and completely catchy.