The Swedish trio Death And Vanilla have been consistently making groundbreaking electronic-tinged pop for a few years so far but they are now set to drop their best album yet. Are You A Dreamer?, out on Friday via Fire Records, is elegant and propulsive, with the tunes throughout the release being remarkably concise and just accessible enough to win this band a few new fans.
Opener "A Flaw in the Iris" is a bit eerie, even as "Let's Never Leave Here" and "Mercier" are sleeker and more supple, with the latter, especially, seeing this trio venture into real Broadcast territory. Elsewhere, the chiming "Nothing is Real" is a spry dash through the sort of space-y territory early Stereolab and Goldfrapp records once mapped out, while "Eye Bath" finds the trio riding an insistent hook that briefly erupts into brighter passages.
Death And Vanilla -- Marleen Nilsson, Magnus Bodin, and Anders Hansson -- have used Are You A Dreamer? to offer up a record that's more accessible, if no less boundary-pushing, than their earlier releases. If the tunes here are still full of a futuristic sheen, they're also somehow easier to dive into, the hooks more direct. Are You A Dreamer? is, clearly, the best record yet from this Swedish trio.
Are You A Dreamer? is out on Friday via Fire Records.
More details on the band via their official Facebook page.
[Photo: Uncredited promotional picture]