A Camp is, of course, the solo project (though now more of a band) of Nina Persson from The Cardigans, a band I’ve never really listened to. Sure, I know two or three of the hits, but that’s all. So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Colonia… but it’s great. Mainly an album of ballads, deftly constructed, but most of all, beautifully sung by Persson.

But what I really like about the album is the darkness of the lyrics compared to the sweetness of the music. Take ‘Love Has Left the Room‘, a soaring, romantic-sounding song about breaking up. Or the opener ‘The Crowning‘, in which “we’re gonna party like it’s 1699” at “the crowning of” someone’s “useless, ruthless head”.

In short, Colonia is the sort of album you have to go back and listen to again, if only to check that Persson just sang what you thought she did — but it’s far from the only reason when the songs are so good.