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Album Reviews
Album Review: AK Momo – Return To NY (Peacefrog)
By Marc Samuels | Published on Monday 16 March 2009
This delightful debut album from Swedish duo Anna Karin and Mattias Olsson taps into the 60s in a way that the likes of Broadcast used to do, but whereas that group couched their art in a slightly clinical retro futurist sound, straight from the lab, ‘Return To NY’ has a more organic feel, with, in the album’s gorgeous sampled string sounds, some of the best use of the mellotron since OMD’s ‘Architecture & Morality’. The high-pitched, slightly twee vocals of Karin also recall chanson and modern day noirish torch songs (think Portishead, Alison Goldfrapp or even Gamine), whilst there’s a slight kookiness to the vocals which will go down well with fans of Kate Bush, Bat For Lashes and Joanna Newsom. Admirers of Saint Etienne’s Scandinavian period may well find much to enjoy too. Sonically beguiling in its use of vintage electronics and radio crackle, ‘Return To NY’ is equally alluring in the fatalistic black white portraits the richly warming melodies and haunting vocals help paint. You could fault the running time (only 35 minutes seems criminally short), but little else – this is an intoxicating listen. MS
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