Nina Persson - Animal Heart

Although Animal Heart is being marketed as Nina Persson’s solo debut, in fact it’s arguably her third stand-alone release. Having enjoyed massive success in the mid-‘90s with The Cardigans (on recording hiatus since 2005’s Super Extra Gravity), the beautiful Swede went on to record two albums under the moniker A Camp with her composer husband, Nathan Larson.

Animal Heart was written and produced by Persson, Larson and Eric D Johnson of Fruit Bats and The Shins fame. The synthesised opening title-track actually sounds a lot like The Cardigans, though the album becomes slightly more experimental as it continues (it closes with a sparse piano-led ballad, ironically called ‘This is Heavy Metal’).

Persson’s vocals are as note-perfect as ever, though she actually sounds best when singing huskily. Lyrically, not much has changed since ‘Lovefool’. Although she’s now happily married and the mother of a young son, her lyrical concerns remain mostly about matters of the heart. On the title-cut, she sings, “My animal heart is telling me to flee.” On ‘Clip Your Wings’, she informs her lover, “You can go if you wanna go.”

Standout tracks include the pumping ‘Food For The Beast’, which features the killer line, “Face down on the floor of the discotheque I saw the poetry”, and the Take That-bating ‘The Grand Destruction Game’ (“I made eyes with a sailor with a burned-up hand/ The cross-eyed singer of a bad boy band”).

Perhaps it’s just her naturally cool Swedish detachment, but ultimately the album is more studio slick than stirringly soulful, the kind of record more likely to be played on repeat in a beauticians than to move you to tears. Never mind. Persson is several cuts above your average pop star. Strip away all the bells and whistles, and she could well produce a classic.