Album Review: Highasakite - Uranium Heart

Norway knows how to produce the otherworldly. There’s an alien beauty to the swag of artists that have recently repped the Scandinavian nation, and indie-pop kids Highasakite are no exception. The sharp, dark but feminine vocals of lead Ingrid Helene Havik weave pretty lines throughout their back catalogue.

For their latest, Uranium Heart, the jagged, off-kilter melodies that lilted alongside Havik's vox, particularly on their excellent 2016 long-player Camp Echo, have been polished up into something a bit glossier, and hence, all but disappear. Her warble is the star here, and while it offers depth and some interesting textures and high points, musically it’s a bit of a whitewash.

I Call Bullshit, ironically named, offers a tiny hint at the edge that Highasakite possessed on previous albums. It comes early, after some beige, clean pop in openers Too Early and Revolution, and then this edge never appears again. What follows is crystalline production of neat-sounding textures that don’t divert from a rigid path set underneath Havik. While her voice itself is emotive, compelling and beautiful, it’s just not enough to carry an album that seems to only operate as a vehicle for her to shine.