Hear Swedish Singer Laleh Go ‘Boom’: Song Premiere

Iranian-born singer Laleh (pronounced La-ley) has been putting out records in her home country of Sweden, where she scored a European hit with “Some Die Young,” for nearly a decade. Now, the songwriter-producer is setting her sights on the states with her upcoming EP, Boom (out Sept. 30).

Opening with dreamy piano chords and a simple dance beat, the EP’s title track, premiering at TIME today, doesn’t sound so explosive right away. But give it time, and Laleh’s hypnotizing harmonies eventually build into something worthy of the title “Boom.”

“Something happened to me while writing this song. I suddenly froze, and the lyric ‘leave the dirt in the earth to bloom’ came to me,” Laleh says of the track. “I like the image of leaving the past in the hands of the earth and the soil, and letting it make a flower out of it.”

Though the singer says fans often think many of her songs are about death — “Some Die Young” was particularly embraced after the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway — she says the lyrics of “Boom” are actually about the opposite.

“‘Boom’ is really about life and leaving life alone; leaving it in the solid; in the dirt to bloom,” Laleh explains. “I love life more than anything, therefore I understand death.” Hear the track below: