Warnings CD

Maria Linden and Fredrik Balck present 12 tracks under the I Break Horses moniker, and it couldn't sound much sweeter. Or at least that's true for 50% of what's here (roughly). At the risk of sounding cliched, this is pop with one ear on the dark side, and another on the light. There's redemption and desperation, the Swedish siren's whispered vocal style perfectly suited to either feeling, combined with spectacularly polished instrumentation to render the whole thing a vivid picture of human emotion. Openers 'Turn' and 'Silence' are pretty, delicate little things, but we also have the likes of 'I a r m' - an otherworldly tune up - and 'I'll Be The Death of You', which owes plenty to synth and new wave. Then you get the pared back, pitched down and rather reflective 'I Live At Night' and the spiralling chords and stop you dead atmospherics of 'Death Engine'.