Sweden is now surely the world's greatest exporter of indie pop. Envelopes fit into the mould with songs that sound determinedly handmade, and through making fine use of endearingly innocent vocals. In particular, when Audrey Pic sings of loneliness in her father's absence on the simple "Boat" it's incredibly touching. Except that she's actually French. And for all that their sound is lo-fi, even then it's rather more raucous than most as the song ends with layers of echoing guitar taking over and ominous radio samples.
Envelopes show a talent throughout their multifaceted songs of deftly switching between ideas, giving them just enough time to bear fruit before moving on. They apply themselves finely to a wide range of styles, from the Television-recalling cool of "Smoke in the Desert, Eating the Sand, Hide in the Grass" to the answerphone atmospherics of "Put On Hold".
That the album moves so quickly and that do it all with a certain looseness and roughness makes for an exhilarating feeling as each new idea successfully strikes, and there a couple of moments of surreal songwriting genius that go beyond even that. Best has to be the foul-mouthed adaptation of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" that graces "Party", with the backwards nonsese chorus of "Freejazz" a close second.
As they end the album with plans to go 'anywhere we want to go, anywhere we want to', you believe them.
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