Alice Boman - The Space Between (LP) - Clear Vinyl

Alice Boman’s music has always felt like a secret you lean in to hear. That quiet spell she cast on Skisser back in 2013 still lingers, but The Space Between, released 21 October 2022 via [PIAS] Recordings, gives that intimacy a wider horizon. It is her second full-length after 2020’s Dream On, and it plays like a night drive where the road is empty, the air is cold, and every thought arrives with its own echo. She is a Malmö artist with a gift for restraint, and here she stretches that gift without breaking it.

What you notice first is the patience. Piano and soft synths move in slow arcs, the drums brush the songs rather than push them, and her voice sits right against your ear, barely raised above a whisper. That closeness is part of the appeal. In a year packed with maximal pop and blockbuster comebacks, Boman doubled down on small gestures, and they carry real weight. The melodies feel hand-stitched, the kind that catch you by surprise two days later when you are washing dishes or waiting for your train.

The headline moment arrives with “Feels Like a Dream,” a duet with Perfume Genius that lands like a timid confession in a dark room. Mike Hadreas has a way of lighting up a track without crowding it, and the pairing is perfect. Their voices overlap like two people finishing each other’s sentences, and there is a tremble to the performance that fits the album’s title. It is a collaboration that brought new ears to Boman, and it makes sense why. If you only have time for one song before deciding whether to take this record home, start there.

Another standout is “Where To Put The Pain,” which circles a question plenty of us have asked without naming it. There is no melodrama, just a steady pulse and lyrics that feel lived-in. The arrangement is spare, so every detail matters, from the low thud that passes for a kick drum to the way a synth line rises like steam. Boman has always been careful with space, and this song shows how she uses silence as an instrument.

The rest of the album opens up gradually. Strings appear in soft swells, guitars show up in ghostly outlines, and nothing ever rushes. You can hear the care in the pacing, the trust that the listener will meet the songs halfway. It is music for rooms with lamps instead of overhead lights. I put it on late and kept finding small anchors, the little delays in her phrasing, the way a chord will bloom a half beat after you expect it. These are choices made by someone who knows exactly what she wants to feel and how little she needs to arrange to get there.

It helps that the writing is stronger than ever. Boman is not a diarist in the literal sense, but she writes like someone who has been sitting with a feeling long enough to sand down its edges. Distance, longing, the static that fills the quiet moments between messages, it all runs through the record without tipping into gloom. There is hope here too, a light under the door. By the time the album eases to a close, you get the sense of a circle completed rather than a fade-out.

For anyone digging through bins, The Space Between is the kind of album that rewards the format. On a good system, the air around her voice is its own instrument. If you are the type who seeks out Alice Boman vinyl, this one is essential. The Space Between vinyl feels made for late nights and clean needles, and it sits neatly alongside Dream On if you are collecting Alice Boman albums on vinyl. If you are wandering a Melbourne record store, do yourself a favor and flip to the B section. If you prefer to buy Alice Boman records online, keep an eye out for a copy before it disappears into the hands of other night owls. I have even seen it pop up among curated picks for vinyl records Australia shoppers, which tells you word has quietly spread.

Alice Boman does not chase trends, and The Space Between is better for it. It is a record that trusts closeness over spectacle and gets to the heart of things without raising its voice. Put it on once for the Perfume Genius duet, then come back for the quiet rooms the rest of the songs open up. That is where this album really lives, and where it lingers long after the last note dissolves.