Album Review: The Radio Dept – Clinging To A Scheme (2010)

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I’m not sure what special additive is being applied to the drinking water in Scandinavia – or specifically Sweden in this instance – but I’m finding myself increasingly attracted to much of the exceptional “new” music being produced out of that part of the world. Following on from recent love-ins with the likes of Air France and The Knife, The Radio Dept is proving to be yet another irresistible proposition presently enjoying high rotation in my house.

Clinging To A Scheme is the latest album by The Radio Dept. Basically it is a pleasant Indie-Pop album full of carefully crafted guitar-based gems, rather reminiscent of Oxford-based Nineties Shoegaze exponents Ride. Or at least, it’s Ride without the associated wall of feedback. Simple short sharp jangly bursts of Swedish sunshine in a box – if I have a minor complaint, it’s merely that at some 35 minutes in length the ten track album feels a little too short. Then again, maybe that also adds to its charm and digestibility in the sense that it doesn’t ever become too overwhelming.

Highlights: ‘Domestic Scene’, ‘Heaven’s On Fire’, ‘This Time Around’, ‘Never Follow Suit’, and ‘David’.