DEATH & VANILLA Vinyl & CDs

Review: Sweden's vintage gear loving Death and Vanilla continue to defy expectation with their singular take on pop music as they present this new album Flicker. It's a record that holds a mirror up to these difficult modern times in which awe live and mixes up an array of different sonic foundations to do so. They are dub reggae, motorik Can kicks, Philip Glass's minimalism and dreamy but dark pop spins from The Cure. Add in elements of Spiritualized and Talking Heads with a hint of Brian Eno and you chose have a good idea of what to expect here.

Review: Are you a dreamer? Swedish band Death & Vanilla ask across eight contemporary takes on German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psychedelic. Vocals are breezy, their moog synths fat, with guitars drenched in reverb and delay. At times the band's sound aligns with other kindred groups like Goldfrapp, Portishead or even Bjork (with "Vespertine") through their subtle take on downbeat, alternative '90s pop and this is heard most in "Let's Never Leave Here". "Are You A Dreamer?" delivers the Malmo trio a fifth studio LP following last year's conceptual soundtrack for stage and screen entitled "A Score For Roman Polanski's The Tenant", and this time around, our highlights include the spacey western riffs of "Eye Bath" and the ever-so dreamy "The Hum". Esoteric modern pop for sure.