DK7 DISARMED ALBUM OUTPUT RELEASE: OCTOBER 24 , 2005 REVIEW: DECEMBER 9, 2005

A collaborative effort between Swedish club music profile Jesper Dahlbäck and Irish expat musician Mark O'Sullivan (Mighty Quark), DK7 is on a laudable journey to reconcile beat driven dance music with a bygone age of technopop, back when electronic music didn't equal chucking the songwriting out of the window. O'Sullivan brings a sombre warmth to the cold and precise synthesizer bleepscapes with his sung and spoken narrative, a spectral presence like a moodier, more sinister David Sylvian.

The idea is similar to the elegant poptronica that Erlend Øye grafted on "Unrest" a few years ago, but "Disarmed" is an altogether darker – even gothic – affair with screeching guitars (courtesy of former Ride and current Oasis member Andy Bell) sometimes showing their teeth over the thumping electronic basslines.

The nocturnal ambience of the album is seductive and highly surprising, coming from two people primarily known for their work in dance music. "Disarmed" muddles already blurry musical genre boundaries further by stitching Joy Division and Underworld into an attractive patchwork quilt. There are stretches of less inspiring beatscaping, but on the whole DK7 have picked the raisins from the modern musical cake and made a great atmospheric album of vocal electronica. Their potential is huge.

MATTIAS HUSS