Elin Ruth – Elin Ruth

The success of one of Sweden's more illustrious exports, Volvo, has been largely built on a reputation for safety. Solid, never showy. It seems as though compatriot Elin Ruth Sigvardsson has adopted the same approach for her eponymous international debut, with the hope that she finds some degree of homogeneity between the two markets.

Off the back of multiple Swedish Grammy nominations, she hits these shores with an album more akin to Stockton, Tennessee than Stockholm, Sweden. There are no really awful songs here, but there are no really great ones either. It's an album you've heard umpteen times before and despite the fact you've probably never encountered Elin Ruth, she already sounds overly familiar. At best she comes across as a middle-of-the-road Nelly Furtado, which is rather underwhelming in itself. With such an abundance of good music at this point in time it's hard to see a place for this.