I was intrigued about what a full length album would be like from a producer that has had plenty of exposure from his mainstream collaboration single with fellow Swedish artist Robyn, “With Every Heartbeat”.

Press releases promise a broad range of collaborative vocals textured in synthpop. Synth-pop? More like Synth-poop!

‘Until We Bleed’ features the croaking vocals of Lykke Li, and possesses a deep atmosphere with string orchestra. ’3am’ is perked up with angelic vocals from Marit Bergman, but still sounds like something that belongs on a 1987 film score. I was curious about Neneh Cherry’s collaboration, but sadly with the addition of an unnecessary adolescent choir, this just makes you sick before you get to the end.

The non vocal tracks ‘Chords’, ‘Sad Boy Smile’ and ‘Tower of Trellick’ could have easily been mistaken for work by Mylo.

The two good pieces of work come from the only commercial releases Kleerup has had. ‘With Every Heartbeat’ * and the latest single ‘Longing for Lullabies’ with Titiyo (which only seems to getting regular airplay on BBC Radio 2). Actually on reflection, ‘Hero’ is really catchy in a uncomfortable sort of way, with its rising synth undertones and powerful baseline.

I don’t know who this album is trying to appeal to. Commercial buyers will be disappointed by the lack of catchy hooks. Fans will be disappointed by the lack of quality. This just seems like a producer jumping on the current electro-pop bandwagon for the sake of it.

At best, the album feels like a bunch of B sides to a modern dance classic (let’s face it, one which was only really made famous by a blonde Swedish babe). I have been inspired by albums from Tiga and Rex The Dog in the past, but i’m sorry i wasted my money on this.

Rating (out of 5) : 1

* Factoid: ‘With Every Heartbeat’ is the only song that i know of in recent times to be released on an album by separate artists (i.e. Robyn & Kleerup)… unless you can name me at least three more!