Disko may be something of a misleading title for Kim Hiorthøy’s latest collaboration’s debut. The graphic designer-cum-LoFi electronic artist has come together with the hauntingly childlike vocals of Sweden’s Lisa Östberg and Louise Peterhoff, along side the Finish Kristiina Viiala, to create something that, in the case of ‘Allt Man Vill’ and a few other tracks, evokes more images of ghostly mechanical toys moving their ill-oiled limbs to the music than any more conventional depictions of dancing. Melancholy Swedish alternative folk comes together with sporadically faded-in driving electronic beats to produce an interesting, if disparate, thirty-five minutes of part hypnosis, part reflection, and part confusion.

The eleven short songs are mainly downbeat and mellow, but the real pleasure of the music comes through when the rough and repetitive hip-hop beats take over; ‘Det Gör Ingenting’ – a definite highlight – pulses through its almost six minute running time beautifully, perfectly conveying the message of its translated title: it does not matter. But it passes almost unnoticed, hypnotizing the listener so effectively that it feels considerably shorter than the infinitely less listenable opener – ‘Som En Läderlapp’ – despite being more than double it’s length. Unfortunately, this shambolic and slightly uncomfortable first track has the effect of marring the rest of the album somewhat – first impressions are important – and especially on a first listen, it can cast a shadow over it’s much less disconcerting successors. It’s a shame, really, as songs like ‘Kämpa’, ‘Låt Det Va’ and many of the intermediate tracks, definitely grow on you, evolving into complex and engaging listens, which reveal more with their spasmodically interjected audio debris on every listen.

Again though, the band seem to have fallen down on organization of their tracks, as the last one – ‘Sönderslagna Möbler’ ends the proceedings with it’s sparse piano and noticeable lack of beat – like the first, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth that this time lingers not over other tacks, but over the overall feeling of the record. So really, when the pleasing rhythms are the focus, with the vocals hanging delicately from them, the album is worth the effort, but more often than not, the songs feel empty and bleak, and leave you with a definite wanting for something more.