Sassy 009 - Heart Ego (LP)

Heart Ego arrived in late 2021 as the first full-length from Sassy 009, the Oslo project of Sunniva Lindgård, and it still feels like slipping into a neon-lit side street at 2am. Lindgård started Sassy 009 as a trio, then carried it forward solo, and you can hear that sense of authorship throughout. The production is tight and curious, voice and synths moving like liquid around each other, every drum hit placed with intent yet never fussy. It’s pop that enjoys the club’s shadows, the kind of record that rewards both a close listen and a bus ride gaze out the window.

What strikes first is how personal the sound design feels. Lindgård tends to let her vocals hover, sometimes doubled, sometimes pushed close to the mic, while synths flicker in and out like passing headlights. The bass isn’t just low, it’s tactile, and the drums lean into programmed snap rather than brute force. It’s sleek without being cold, which is a neat trick. She’s self-produced before, and Heart Ego reads like a confident step up, a proper album arc with breathing room between the bright moments and the anxious ones.

Blue Racecar was the calling card single, and it’s still a rush. The beat pushes forward with a lean pulse and the melody loops in a way that becomes a kind of mantra. There’s speed in the lyric and in the mix, an itch to move that never trips over itself. It caught plenty of ears before the album landed, with coverage from places like The FADER and The Line of Best Fit helping signal that Sassy 009 had shifted into a new gear. It’s a tidy snapshot of the record’s appeal, pop instincts sharpened by club sensibilities.

Mystery Boy sits on the other side of the mood board. The drums are softer, the synths blur at the edges, and Lindgård’s vocal pulls you in rather than aiming for the rafters. The writing here feels diaristic without slipping into cliché. She plays with repetition, but not the lazy kind, more like notes jotted on a phone that reveal a pattern the more you look at them. That’s the throughline of Heart Ego as a whole, an inner conversation about desire, control and how you talk to yourself when no one’s listening.

The title track does what great title tracks do, it crystallises the album’s thesis. There’s a tug of war between the shiny surface and what sits underneath. Melodies sparkle, then a line lands that makes you shift in your seat. It’s not dour, far from it, but the emotional weather changes quickly. A bright hook gets undercut by a chord change, or a beat drops away to show a rawer take. It’s the subtlety that keeps me coming back. You can hear she’s a careful editor, chasing a feeling rather than a genre tag.

As a full album experience it flows beautifully. Shorter pieces act like breathers, and the sequencing lets the bigger songs hit harder. You could throw individual tracks into a playlist and they’d light it up, but Heart Ego really clicks front to back. That might be why it has stuck with fans who came in on the early EPs. There’s craft in the pacing, and a confidence in the way she leaves silence in the mix.

On vinyl, the low end and those glassy synths really open up. If you’re the type who loves quiet detail, the Heart Ego vinyl pressing is a smart buy, especially if you’re building a shelf of sleek, nocturnal pop. I’ve spun my copy late at night and it sings, the bass translating with more weight and the vocal layers sitting in a lovely haze. If you’re hunting Sassy 009 vinyl or want to buy Sassy 009 records online, shops with a decent electronic and pop crossover section tend to file it near the Scandi favourites. A good Melbourne record store will know where to point you, and there are plenty of options for vinyl records Australia wide if you’re ordering.

Heart Ego is one of those debuts that feels fully formed without losing curiosity. It doesn’t blare for attention, it lures you in, and each return visit reveals a new corner. For anyone collecting Sassy 009 albums on vinyl, this is the keeper, the one that marks the project’s shift from promising to compelling. It’s cool to the touch, then it warms in your hands. That balance is the magic.