Husky Rescue – The Long Lost Friend: Special Edition

The fourth album from this Finnish folktronica project gets its first worldwide issue, following a domestic release back in 2013. This special edition comes packed with so many extras (accompanying singles, remixes and an instrumental bonus album, conceived for sleeve artist Kustaa Saksi’s Hypnopompic exhibition) that the album itself amounts to a third of the full package – still, its ethereal beauty echoes throughout, making for an even flow of sophisticated elegance across an impressive, if draining 24 tracks.

Now-ex-vocalist Johanna Kalén is The Long Lost Friend’s real star, with her breathy whisper as capable of wounded vulnerability as an enigmatic sangfroid, but behind the scenes Marko Nyberg creates gorgeous landscapes of wintery synth-pop (Under Friendly Fire) and autumnally melancholic folk (Mountains Only Knew). We’re pushed away from any true emotional core by Husky Rescue’s broadly icy demeanour, but even at arm’s length, it’s hard to resist the dancefloor delirium of closer Tree House. Very pretty, all told. [Will Fitzpatrick]