Albin Lee Meldau's Unsettling Take On Mental Illness And Addiction

Swedish singer-songwriter Albin Lee Meldau has a profoundly arresting voice that delivers an emotional gut punch with every brooding phrase.

In his chilling new video for the song "Lou Lou," Meldau takes a single, wrenching scene and freezes it in time. Made with one unflinching, steadicam shot, it's an uncomfortably intimate look at the moment paramedics arrive to save a woman who's suffering a drug overdose. Nobody moves. Everything has stopped. It feels particularly helpless and hopeless.

"For me, this video is real," Meldau tells NPR Music in an email. "It's a dark story about being in the midst of addiction, mental illness and drug abuse. This song was written about a girl. Unfortunately in my country, she's one of many."

"Lou Lou" is from Meldau's Lovers EP, released late last year. He's since signed with Astralwerks, with a full-length coming later this year.

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