Moonlight Cove - Hearts of the World

Swedish Moonlight Cove started out in the end of the 90's, but did a comeback in 2008 with their album 'Orphans of the Storm'. Now they are here with their album 'Hearts of the World'. Since they have their origins in the 90's, their sound is true to that era. The more modern touch that was created from the 80's sound, but still highly influenced. They are too much synthpop to be compared to Mesh's early material and their sound is to Scandinavian to be a Depeche Mode soundalike. It's more Erasure than De/Vision, but I think the best comparison is probably the other Swedish synthpop band Vision Talk.

Markus' vocals are great and the melodies soft and playful, just like synthpop tracks should be. They have a couple of strong tracks on 'Hearts of the World', like "Forever We", "Hero of Mine", "Stranger", "This is Euphoria" and the beautiful ballad "Lost Angel" that finish off the album.

Even though the production is of high quality, some tracks are really good; I still feel I can't find any edges. It's soft as fluffy clouds and therefor might be found to be generic. It's not trying anything new and somehow ends up sounding like a little from everything. I have a hard time seeing myself picking this up every once in a while, not like with the Zynic debut album which I still listen to all the time (I know, I know? I need to stop referring to Zynic as the savior of the genre).

The highpitched melody in the first track "Stranger" is very similar to the opening melody of Code 64's "Sea of Stars" from the 'Departure' album. Perhaps it has been influenced by it, deliberately or instinctively. Or could it be a tribute?

Nevertheless, this album is worth checking out for all you synthpop fans. Everything about it is good, but you don't need to have any extra hairspray, because you will probably not be blown away by 'Hearts of the World'. May 09 2012