Swedish band "Whale," now in its second incarnation, retains two of its original three members, lead singer, Cia Soro and guitarrist, Henrik Schyffert. After their other founding member, Gordon Curus, left to form his own record label, they recruited three new members - Drummer, Jorgen Wall, guitarrist, Jon Jefferson Klingberg, and bass player, Heikki Kiviaho. They opened for Blur on their North American tour with their original line up. This year, they open for, "Tricky," in support of their second album, "All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones."

The first track, "Crying At Airports," begins with electronic percussion and eerie synthesizer. Soro's vocal is high and breathy, reminding me a bit of "Sneaker Pimps." The song seems to be about a fast rise to stardom, but it's a tough call. Images of air travel and rock music mix in an abstract way. "Deliver the Juice" opens with the sound of voices in the background, and a male voice singing the refrain of the song softly. Soro's vocal and the outrageous synthesizer music drown out the opening quickly. Soro trades the vocal back and forth with a male vocalist on the line, "I'll never be your girl," which has an interesting mesmerizing effect.

On "Roadkill," Soro uses still another vocal effect, sounding thin and frail. Pulsing guitar and synthesizer back her, driving the song along. It's about a broken romance, and the roadkill in the song refers to the girl, left by the side of the road by her lover, her heart broken. Klingberg's echoing vocal swims from speaker to speaker. "You ran out of style/ And said it was alright to ditch her/ By the oneway sign. . ." The song "Smoke" starts with electronic blips and an absolutely awesome bass line. The bass carries most of the song, while Soro intones the lyric over it. She sings of smoking too much, cancer and failure. This one is jammed with images. Backing vocals come in periodically through out the song, and at one point the backing vocals take over with a loud rasping cacophany. There's a definite surrealistic influence to these songs.

"Losing Ctrl" has soft vocals and instrumentation which reminds me of old "Roxy Music," until they lose control with grunge guitar. The male screaming vocal takes over, and is then joined by Soro's smooth voice. It's an extraordinary contrast, marrying modern rock with its forefathers. "Four Big Speakers" begins with a spoken complaint, "I've got a thirty- five minute drive, I've got an ear infection, I'm allergic to leather seats." The rap vocal by Cream comes in immediately with the bass line, then Soro and Schyffert together take over the vocal. They alternate with Cream throughout the song.

"Go Where You're Feeling Free" shifts the mood from the loud rap to soft contemplation. Soro's vocal is airy, complimenting the soft guitar licks. It reminds me most of "February," but has disco influenced elements that take it in another direction. It's an interesting song about leaving the past behind for a freer place. On "Into the Strobes," pulsing guitar licks, joined by synthesizer and Soro, remind me, again, of "February." This moody piece is quite subtle by comparison to some of the other songs, yet still has fun, "I gather seeds that can't be sown/ Like Flavo Flav without his microphone."

"Puma Gym" takes the album away from such subtlety to a simpler sort of rocker - more on the order of Joan Jett with a twist. The twist is more complex lyrics. The song examines the innocence of youth and being left out. Soro is breathy on "No Better," a soft song with ringing distorted guitar. There's a slight disco influence on this one too. The refrain, "You're no better than you feel/ And you know it's coming back," says it all.

"2 Cord Song" fades in beautifully, each instrument slowly getting louder, focusing in on the rhythm. Finally Soro's sweet vocal overlays the chords. The songs simplicity is deceptive, there's actually a lot going on here. They slip a bit of rocker philosophy into it, "We're here to please the crowd/ We rock therefore we are." The song fades out, to come back with some cool guitar licks, then fades again. If you wait long enough, there's still another short song that charts the history of rock from punk to grunge, criticizing the American system and pop culture. It's influenced, of course, by all of these things. Inside the album, they invite listeners to add verses to the song.

"All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones," is a successful outing by, "Whale." Highlights for me were "Roadkill," "Smoke," "Into the Strobe" and "2 Cord Song." If you're into breathy female vocals, and an electronic influence, you'll definitely like them.