Robyn: reviewed

Here's a rough draft of my Robyn review:

Robyn

ROBYN

Konichiwa/Cherry Tree/Interscope

Robyn’s self-titled disc comes with a back-story nearly worthy of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The Swedish pop album was independently recorded by a former major label artist, took three years to finally make its stateside debut, and now, thanks to tracks being highly touted on hip MP3 blogs since 2005, is being distributed by, you guessed it, a major label. More importantly, Robyn is a near flawless pop gem.

Formerly seen as the Britney Spears of Europe, Sweden’s Robyn had lightweight international hits in the mid-’90s such as ’97’s “Show Me Love,” which cracked the U.S. Top 10. But the woman born Robin Miriam Carlsson in 1979 wanted to break free from the Lolita role and take the sophomoric R&B dictated by her label in a more mature, electronica direction. In order to do so, Robyn bought herself out of her Sony BMG contract, formed Konichiwa records and with the help of Swedish electronic duo The Knife and the rock band Teddybears made her excellent self-titled album. The disc features mostly songs co-written by Robyn and shows just how gripping dance pop can be when freed from lowest-common-denominator record label logic.

Robyn brims with intelligent, sassy and sensitive lyrics delivered in a spellbindingly expressive voice that’s alternately assured and vulnerable. Sonically, vibrant beats are interspersed with live instrumentation, resulting in a progressive club vibe that even an indie diehard could appreciate. For instance, songs don’t get much more simultaneously catchy and poignant than “Be Mine,” a synth and string breakup ballad replete with an adorable spoken word bridge. Self-released by Robyn in 2005, the disc finally hit U.S. shelves several weeks ago, with Interscope getting behind it — something Sony should have had the good sense to do back in ’03 when their little starlet first voiced plans to take her music down a brilliantly bold new path. 4 stars

To hear sound clips click here.

This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2008.