All good things come to those who wait, but after three years of whispers, remixes and the occasional video, the arrival of Voyage, Swedish pop maestros The Sound Of Arrows long awaited debut, is all a bit anti-climactic. Where are the number one singles, glossy front covers, and screaming crowds the duo’s original buzz almost instantly dictated? And the even more baffling thing about it all is that pressing play on Voyage offers no answers.

Disclaimer: I am good friends with the Fred Perry emblazoned bundle of mischief this band call a manager, but I was a fan long before his friend. Just like so many others, when the clip for ‘M.A.G.I.C.’ first surfaced online I got very excited. It was just so beautifully executed, and then discovering it had been produced, video and all, in the pairs’ own studio somewhere outside Stockholm just wrapped up the too perfect dream I had of Scandinavia as some kind of haven for a mysterious mafia of pop premieres. Voyage does not disappoint this dream.

Eleven tracks of synthetic bliss; choruses explode, sounds echo and flux between headphones, while Stefan’s vocals paint a young and hopeful Pet Shop Boys. Yes, at times it’s cheesy, but you’d have to have a hard heart not to find this record an uplifting experience. Previous singles ‘Into The Clouds’, ‘Nova’, and the aforementioned ‘M.A.G.I.C.’ make an appearance, but rerecorded with a subtle gloss, they don’t steal the moment, allowing the likes of Junior Boys indebted ‘Shadow’, and Miike Snow styled ‘Conquest’ to play out with equal paunch.

Whether it was the time frame Sound of Arrows took to complete their debut, the collapse of their UK label, or simply a case of bad timing, Voyage’s stealth release cannot be blamed on its content. A long wait, but it was worth every minute.