Niki & The Dove

From Stockholm, Niki and the Dove produce atmospheric electronic pop positioned between the Knife's unsettling sonic environments and Robyn's memorable melodies. Malin Dahlström, handling vocals and songwriting duties, joined Gustaf Karlöf, who contributes on keyboards and guitar, in February 2010; her shadowy lyrical visions merged with his appreciation for styles extending from Stravinsky to Eurovision pop. Dahlström's earlier path had included work with a dance troupe plus her own solo electronic effort, disdishdance. Issued in August 2010 through Moshi Moshi as part of the U.K. label's singles club, the duo's opening single, DJ, Ease My Mind/Under the Bridges, drew strong critical praise. Before year's end, Niki and the Dove independently released the Mother Protect single, revealing a wider and bolder expansion of their approach. They secured a deal with Sub Pop Records early in 2011, and that label issued the Fox EP that June. Their well-received debut full-length, Instinct, surfaced across Europe in spring 2012 before reaching the U.S. later that summer. The pair launched sessions for a successor in 2013; two years afterward they surfaced with the Play It on My Radio single, which foreshadowed the subtler, more varied course taken on Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now in 2016.