Album Review: Highasakite - Camp Echo

Highasakite are undoubtedly Scandinavian (specifically Norwegian) in terms of their electro-pop sound: it's sophisticated, tinged with darkness, and brash and danceable without veering into predictable EDM soullessness.

But their third LP Camp Echo, does come across as kind of The Knife-like, which is by no means a bad thing, but maybe too easy to come to as comparison if they are trying to set themselves apart from those distinctive contemporaries.

Highasakite have put a lot of thought into this album, with musings on recent politics and world conflicts, not the most pop of themes but not without merit. And they have a dazzling range of tempo and sound spread across the track list. Calculated, noodley synth opener My Name Is Liar touches upon our freedoms being under attack. Someone Who'll Get It sets a nice mid-tempo pace, with lush vocals and drumming. They sonically go bold, post-industrial '90s with the wonderfully titled My Mind Is A Bad Neighbourhood. And then wisely set it alongside the gentle, somber Cocteau Twins-esque God Don't Leave Me. They kick it into high gear with the standout, emphatic Golden Ticket, complete with arms-wide-open lyrics: "Boy can you hear me shout? / I gotta golden ticket / I'm out / I'm already gold / I'm out." Album closer Chernobyl is predictably grim and unsurprisingly leaves the listener with a bit of a chill. Camp Echo is quite an effort and glimmers at moments when not being overly dour.