Positioned somewhere between jazz, R ‘n’ B and pop, Neon Ion’s striking new album plays to her strengths, with supporting musicians well-conditioned to the task.
‘Beautiful Thing’ kicks things off quickly, all percussive shifting and chopping as the lady at the female star comes flying in with her sultry and soulful vocals. It marks its territory from the very inception, draws you in, places itself in the foreground and at no point over the record’s nine tracks does it retreat for a second.
Exquisite saxophone flurries at the start of ‘Desert Bloom’ set the scene for the following simple drum machine beat and the sublime vocals to enter, a chilled-out vibe, a soulful place increasingly fashioned as the tracks progress.
The vocal delivery here is often sumptuous, blissfully executed, it’s impossible to tell a non-native – a Norwegian here – has wrapped their tongue around the English language here. Lyrics are sexy, romantic, dripping with modern honey.
This is pop jazz, if you need a label, but each genre enhances the other here, the blend exotic and enticing. The soul in Natalie Sandtorv’s voice elevates the sound, completing the sublime combination of instruments and directions, as if her voice harnessed and directed it all.
Title track ‘Laugh Now, Cry Later’ is a blissful entry – naturally a single before the album dropped – that would surely spell further attention, eyes fixed on this artist, a song in which the jazz accompanies the pop song and then takes over, exploding around the track, the culmination akin to fireworks to the repeated mantra lyrics of the title.
The drum beat is vicious, intoxicating, a whirlwind to inspire dancing. It doesn’t end there though, and when the chorus comes back in it feels like a song you have always known.
‘Softer’ is indeed just that, another succulent slice of what is served here as we slip into the middle of the album. Romantic halfway track ‘Save Your Love for Me’ is blissed out and sensual. ‘Be Still I’m Falling’ is another highlight of an album with no weak songs. It slinks in, new and also familiar, another work that cannot possibly have been previously unknown.
Surely it has been around an age; such is its wisdom, its character, the way its body moves through one’s mind. Sandtorv’s sophisticated slant is at its peak on this track, and as its last embers fade, its presence echoes within the listener, a shimmering work.
Final playful and noodling track ‘Unrehearsed Love’ is a kind of question mark at the end of the album. Almost as if to ask, will you laugh first, will you take that road and save the tears for later? This inviting playfulness is a wondrous end to a record filled with personality. One that deserves to meet a global audience.
Modern, a style of her own whilst incorporating all known elements, charming and alive, Neon Ion’s ‘Laugh Now, Cry Later’ is – at least in its name – sage advice for all of us. Her musically coherent and incisive world might be just the ticket for what looks a troubled year such as 2026.
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