Remember Iceage? A year ago, these four young Danish punks were making music publications froth at the mouth with their well-executed homage to British post-punk à la Killing Joke and Warsaw and their elliptical, monosyllabic interviews. This summer, four other young Scandinavian punks are hopeful of creating a similar level of buzz with a similar kind of sound. Holograms’ hometown is Stockholm in Sweden, one of Europe’s richest cities and, by the sounds of it, just as capable of inspiring snotty urban warfare music as Iceage’s ‘hood Copenhagen.

Both bands originate from the left-leaning youth club/DIY punk scenes of their respective cities, but that’s where the similarities end. On their debut album, Holograms forego Iceage’s nihilistic (some say fascist) approach and instead focus on positivity, energy and getting the basics right.

The band’s signature sound comes courtesy of an old Korg synthesizer given to them by the father of a deceased friend. It’s used to hammer out lead melodies (as on the chirpy garage rocker ‘Chasing My Mind’ or the martial stomp of ‘ABC City’), but also to give the more generic tracks (‘Fever’, ‘Orpheo’) some atmospheric heft.

Anton Spetze’s guitar is a graduate of the highly conceptual, foreboding school of Gang of Four and Joy Division’s Bernard Sumner, and his vocals, pitched between detachment and cockiness, have a pleasant, wide-eyed excitement to them.

The lyrics are mostly inaudible, but the few lines that manage to penetrate the mean, tinny racket hint at a way with words that’s impressive for a non-native speaker and a penchant for less-than-sunny imagery. ‘Apostate’ warns that “The new order is ahead (…) Truth leads to sacred light (…) Darkness fills my mind/Speak of the hidden thing/I am the last apostate”, while in ‘A Tower’, Spetze pleads: “Lay me down in the circle/For the birds to devour my body/In the tower”.

Sadly, Holograms hasn’t got a lot to show for in the way of hooks (fuck, even Wire had some singable choruses), and the whole youthful energy thing only propels Holograms so far, but for a debut album, this will do just fine – cohesive, no-nonsense, and occasionally exciting stuff.

Listen to Holograms