Lucky Lo debuts her heartfelt alt-pop with a brave show of emotional honesty, attempting to synchronize heartbeats with lovers and listeners through her music

“A friend once told me that when people sing together, their heartbeats synchronize. Our heartbeats are rhythmic pulses that extend outside our bodies, and like ripples on the water, affect our surroundings.”- Lo Ersare

Lucky Lo’s debut single—like the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist herself—oozes with positive energy, enchantment and the ability to transform cold into warmth. “Heart Rhythm Synchronize” brings us into the scene of an unraveling relationship, but takes this subject and flips it around, disarming its thorns with sincerity and displacing its gravity with acceptance.

“The fear of being honest, because you might hurt your significant other, is something that can truly eat you up inside” says Lo, reflecting on the first two verses. It’s a difficult topic to approach, but in line with Lo’s enchanting positivity, the song transforms into a magical landscape of connection:

“A friend once told me that when people sing together, their heartbeats synchronize. I also read somewhere that the same thing happens when you sleep next to someone you love, or if you are strongly empathizing with someone close to you during a conversation. Our heartbeats are rhythmic pulses that extend outside our bodies, and like ripples on the water, affect our surroundings. This was my desire in this moment: for me and my partner to synchronize once again” Lo says.

On a foundation of Asian-influenced electric guitar—at times reminiscent of Khruangbin—minimalistic drumming, and rock-solid and funky bass, Lo’s contra-alto soars by the end of the song. “You can never hurt anyone by saying how you FEEL” she says about the final lyrics. After disarming us with her honesty, Lucky Lo hits us with sudden time signature and key changes, at which point her music feels less like a song and more like a revelation.

And if the song feels like a revelation to us, it’s because it also did to her. Over the past few years, Swedish musician Lo Ersare has been making a name for herself in Copenhagen and in Japan where she spends a few months of each year. However, it wasn’t until she joined forces with band members Asger Nordtorp Pedersen (Guldimund, Blaue Blume) and Mads Nørgaard (Broken Twin, The Nest) that Lo’s alt-pop songwriting began to take its full form. For their first session, the three brought in Casper Henning Hansen (Moi Caprice, Oh Land) to try a new song, “Heart Rhythm Synchronize”, and in one moment Lucky Lo was born:

“It was one of those rare moments where the music almost plays itself” says Lo about the first session, at which she added the word “Lucky” to her name to reflect how she felt.

After moving from Umeå, Sweden to Copenhagen in 2014, Lo Ersare made a living playing banjo on the street, busking her original songs for passers-by. Her love of various kinds of music from Bulgarian vocal traditions to Japanese 80’s pop has led her throughout the city performing everything from solo banjo to experimental jazz to improvisational vocal music.

“I used to feel like I was sleeping around with so many genres. I learned so much from it, but now I’ve decided to commit to this one. Nothing has ever been more me” she says about Lucky Lo.

And while Lucky Lo firmly introduces herself in “Heart Rhythm Synchronize” as an emotive, feel-good alt-pop act, these disparate influences can undeniably be found in her music’s complex, unique and hopeful color.

“I think the best songs are those that contain honest and true feelings. Combine that with some groovy vibes and you’ve got Lucky Lo in a nutshell.”