“I don't want to die / At least not now / I love being alive,” sings Girl in Red's Marie Ulven on “I'm Back,” the opening track of their second full-length. Masu. As expected, there's plenty of both eye-rolling excitement and depressing realism. The Norwegian indie-pop auteur oscillates between stifling neurosis and radical self-acceptance throughout the record, settling primarily on the latter. Her eclectic ideas are refined on “if i can make it go Quiet,” with the track's inner noises conveyed with consistency alongside clever, witty pop nous. Elsewhere, it's mostly a continuation of what's come before, deftly interjecting contradictory notes as she still tries to tame her fidgety mind. The frenetic indie “DOING IT AGAIN BABY'' develops into something that will bring down the country. Alternative anthem “You Need Me Now?” Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter participates. And the soft haze of “Phantom Pain” ends with tearing vocals. But the most thought-provoking of her future masterpieces is the art-pop closer “★★★★★,'' in which the brazenly self-conscious Marie examines her talent for commodifying conflict. “You have to be delusional to be in this industry.” […] I’m surprisingly bad at making epic trash,” she declares over a cacophony of fizzing, choppy percussion. She further strengthens her niche: artistic Scandinavian, indie, pop, and “I'M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!'' The most realistic girl in red.