Stina Nordenstam

Although this Swedish pixie has been steadily putting out quality albums overseas for many years, this is one of the few domestic releases she’s had over her career. You’d think, then, she’d go for the big single and try to grab the market, but, wonderfully, Ms. Nordenstam decided to take the opposite route and make an intoxicating and fiercely individual statement. Look no further than the title track where Stina, in her usual bracingly unusual vocal manner — think of a Scandinavian Joanna Newsom without the yelps — quietly repeats the titular mantra to nothing more than string plucks. The timing of both the plucks and the chorus make for an unsettling statement, nicely in juxtaposition to the hopeful title. For more bliss, look to "I’m Staring Out the World,” which is lovingly abstract with its eerily dissonant strings and thumping beats and bass plucks, again accompanied by Nordenstam’s singular voice. Of course, despite the obtuseness of these earlier tracks, "The End of a Love Affair” brings it back to accessible territory with a mournful, echoed Nordenstam over a steady, lush electronic beat, making this everyone’s favourite track. To massacre the famous saying when a king has died: "The world is saved; long live Stina Nordenstam”.