A lot can change over the course of five years. Amandine frontman Olof Gidlöf hasn’t, however, lost any of the sweet melancholy that so vividly coloured his band’s first two albums. In fact, the Swedish quintet’s self-titled new release, their first since 2007, takes the beautiful despondency that featured on their earlier work and buoys it up with robust, accessible arrangements and crisp, uncluttered production, making the stirring sentiments found within the songs that much more prominent and affecting.

There’s a fluid blend of the stark surroundings of Amandine’s native Northern Sweden and the well-worn highway songs of middle America informing much of the plaintive music found on the record. But the band imbue their songs with a genuine and distinct sincerity which pays rightful homage to their myriad influences, rather than sounding appropriated in any way. These highly evocative songs have a tendency to take the listener back and forth across the Atlantic as they playfully bounce from one striking musical style to the next.

The record starts out warmly with the inviting strains of ‘Redemption’, a great kick-off track for a band trying to once again forge their own musical path. Indeed, this new batch of songs could be the light that Gidlöf sees awaiting him through the darkness that he sings about – it certainly wouldn’t be the first time music has truly carried someone through difficult times. The strong start continues with ‘Beneath The Birches,’ which has a sprightly bounce to it, and sounds like a love letter to a place that is held very dear; while ‘Bones’ has an ominous mood and melody, guided along by the haunting keyboard strains of John Andersson until the final chorus unleashes all of the tracks raw, pent-up emotional fury.

The band co-produced the album with Daniel Berglund, ending their long-standing partnership with producer Ove Andersson who manned the dials on their first two releases, as well as with their former label Fat Cat Records, in favour of self-releasing this new batch of tunes. And while there are occasional attempts at a grandiosity that some of the songs don’t really require (especially on the Ben Fold’s-like piano pop number ‘Life’s Lease’), most of the tracks (particularly the heartbreakingly gorgeous piano ballad ‘To All Courageous Hearts’) have an understated restraint to them that allows the fervent lyrics and touching melodies to soar unfettered by burdensome arrangements.

‘A Ghost Is Letting Go’ has hints of the vocal and musical style of fellow countryman Emil Svanängen, but is balanced and tempered nicely by the dulcet harmonies of viola/violinist Kristina Lundin, who joins with Gidlöf as the song builds to a poignant emotional crescendo. Various ghosts find their way into many of these numbers, and indeed most of these songs have a definite cathartic tenor to them, as if Gidlöf is still coming to grips with how to say goodbye. So an engraved stone is raised above bones buried in a field in the dramatic finish of the impassioned dirge ‘Magnolia Petal,’ while there appears to be some healing taking place in the doleful ‘Release The Ghosts,’ but the process will always be a slow one.

The heartrending record closes with its best track, the hopeful ‘Signs’ which has underlying positivity and promise layered within the sanguine melody. It’s an emphatic way to end an album which features so many overtly despondent moments, but those sorrow-laden tones are always represented honestly and never approach saccharine desperation. Amandine have clearly been through a lot just to make this record after their five year absence, but hopefully have now gained the unsettling enlightenment which typically follows prolonged distress, so that their next record will have an easier genesis, reflecting the lessons we all learn when confronted with loss.