MIDAIRCONDO - Shopping For Images

Lisen, Lisa, Malin.

Sometimes Northern European names are so beautiful that they manage to embody all the stereotypes of that paradise of normality with which we imagine those countries, so distant from us, might happily welcome us in.

This time, they're also the names of Midaircondo, three Swedish girls who with "Shopping For Images" make their debut for Type (one of the most interesting labels of last year, just listen to the albums by Deaf Center and Khonnor, for example).

Femininity is already expressed in the artwork, where the figures of the three girls are accompanied by simple, sweet and sensual drawings. The music produced by this trio also proves very feminine, following the electro-acoustic vein that's been prominent in recent years: created with the aid of electronics as well as traditional instruments (keyboards, wind instruments, percussion), the songs unfold like scenarios, watercolours, romantic, introspective and melancholy landscapes, yet also seemingly spontaneous and childlike.

The opening track "Eva Stern" is a shy opening onto the Midaircondo planet: electronic loops underpin the undulation of winds and keyboards, with the song's title itself repeated in sequence; it gives way to a more animated, restless and startled piece, "Could You Please Stop", again featuring beats and loops, this time accompanied by a jazzy bass line; the third track on the record is certainly one of the most appealing, and, why not, also one of the most beautiful on the album, "Serenade", a title that's fitting to say the least: here the electronics become less conspicuous, and piano, winds and delicate percussion wrap around the Swedish singer's voice, pained yet strong.

The approach adopted is similar to venturing into an unknown world, describing it and then reflecting on it - whether this world is external or internal to us, real or imaginary, doesn't change the outcome. The warmth of the instrumentation compensates for the coldness of the loops and the static quality of some tracks, a stasis accentuated by the repeated melodies, just as the vocals alternate between moments of detached alienation and others that are almost soulful (as happens in "Sorry", for example).

Among these abstract sketches, more pop-oriented moments emerge to give the record greater variety, as in "Perfect Spot", a fine three-voice vocal crescendo wrapped in glitches, bells, ethereal loops and sax flourishes.

"Who's Playing", built on a game of hide-and-seek between metallic and non-metallic percussion, bells and small laptop samples, recalls a naive style well known and much loved in the Land of the Rising Sun, by now widespread in our parts too, while "Lo-Fi Love" is another fine track built on reiterations and chases of effects created through digital manipulation, but more aggressive and unsettling in its sounds, alternating between crescendos and moments of greater stasis.

The last two tracks on the record add nothing new to what's already been said, but "I'll Be Waiting" can't help but be considered a worthy final seal and a compendium of Midaircondo's style.

The charge one might level at this "Shopping For Images" is that it's a bit monochromatic in terms of expressive range and mood, but, in this writer's opinion, too much flirtation with pop, or even with more experimental music, would have cost the album its originality, and its essence is best grasped precisely in the cocoon it manages to wrap us in, painstakingly built track by track.

There's a mysterious fil rouge linking the Far East to Scandinavia.

A naive yet highly meticulous style, gentle but capable of revealing complex facets, which for some years now has seemed to be the preserve of these geographically distant lands, and we can only take note of it: the three Swedish girls of Midaircondo, with their excellent debut, are yet another confirmation.

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30/04/2026