Saralunden.Björkås.Mjös — Dubious

Dubious is the second EP on Ukranian imprint Nexsound by Sara Lundén, but with different companions. This time Kyrre Björkås (Det är jag som är döden) and Andreas Mjös (or Mjøs, in Norway, Jaga Jazzist) join in to put Lundén's vocals in a different context.

Vocalists Björkås and Lundén met in Riga at an exhibition and later in Oslo she fell in love with Kyrre's voice when he was singing It's A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. There they decided their voices should work nicely together, and they do indeed. They sometimes even sound like a Scandinavian version of Serge Gainsbourg, specifically the EP's closing track Murder takes the form of some dark "Gænsbørg" duet. Not so much the southern heat of 'I'm so horny I can't sing', but a more northern, icy approach that's in no way less exciting to listen to. Their voices are paired with hush and subtle electronics and acoustic sounds by all three, where Mjös's contribution is instantly recognizable if you are familiar with the music found on imprints like Smalltown Supersound and Rune Grammofon.

Nexsound PQP is the sublabel on which more palatable music than Nexsound normally releases and Dubious shows indeed a very listenerfriendly approach. The tastefully arranged dreamy pop brings to mind excellent bands like Pram, Broadcast and the British duo Mono (who made one great album called Formica Blues and are not to be confused with that postrock band). Less friendly is the length of a mere 15 minutes which leaves me aching for more!