Nº 3, Secretly Canadian, **

Swedish duo jj continue to move in mysterious ways. What we do know is that Elin Kastland does the singing and Joakim Benonand does the production shape-throwing. Despite the title, Nº 3 is in fact their second album of ghostly Balearic soul, hazy dream-pop and Scandinavian chilled ambience.

We’ve been in this neck of the woods many times before (patches will remind you of Saint Etienne’s mania for 1960s nostalgia, for instance), but jj attempt to bring a euphoric sense of rapture and a penchant for classical arrangements to the party.

There are, however, far too many times when the duo seem to simply repeating the routines that worked so well the first time, and there is an over-reliance on hoping that a perfumed fog of sound will disguise the lack of new ideas. Instead of being anchored by songs, the listener is simply carried along by wispy, flighty waves of sound. Best check out their debut album instead.

See secretlycanadian.com

Download track:

My Life