Robyn: Body Talk Pt 1

This album leaps all over the place in tone but the singer clearly had fun making it.

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Somewhere hidden in Sweden there is a factory that specialises in the germination and shaping of young popstrels, fresh-faced and ready to be launched upon the world stage. It is the factory behind Abba, Ace of Base, Roxette and now Robyn. To be fair, an early prototype of the latter appeared in the 1990s when the starlet was first unleashed on the world, but there were a few problems with that model so back she went several times, only to reappear this year and announce that she would be releasing three albums before December. Body Talk Pt 1 is the first instalment, the debut for her own record label - Konichiwa. Aptly, one of its tracks is even called Fembot. "Fresh out the box, the latest model, generator running on full throttle, can I get a fuel up?" she asks breathlessly in it. Much in the same vein as Lily Allen, certain other tracks see Robyn in bolshy, foot-stamping mode while others are more grown up. Hang With Me is a beautifully-orchestrated acoustic track, backed by sparing piano and violin notes, in which she warns her subject not to fall in love with her. DancehallQueen is a reggae-infused riot, Dancing On My Own is the lead single - as irrepressible as a labrador puppy - and Jag vet en dejlig rosa is the hushed, closing lullaby. It's consequently an album that leaps all over the place in tone. But it's bouncy and she's clearly had fun making it, as, one hopes, she has with the two forthcoming parts.