I'm sorry, but I still can't think of Sweden and pop music without breaking out into a cold sweat. ABBA; the name alone makes the hair on the back of my neck start to rise and my fingers tremble. They and bands like Bonny M are aberrations that will sometimes make me wonder about people who live in the North of Europe.

The real curse of ABBA is that they seem to have more than just the one life. First they were the band, and now they are the musical. Some horrible Sadist created a Broadway musical out of their music and it will now tour as a road show through North America for eternity. Nothing freezes the blood quite like the idea of a semi-professional production featuring the music of ABBA being staged by anyone evil enough to pay for the rights to produce it.

Yes, I know they were insanely popular, selling millions of records worldwide and probably continuing to do so until this day. I've never even had the nerve or energy to try and figure out how they were and are so popular. I'm sure if I were to discover the reason I might be driven to some desperate act like suicide. There are questions in this world that are better left unanswered and that is most definitely one of them.

Thankfully a new generation of Swedish musicians are working to make reparations to the world through the creation of music that will drive a stake through the heart of the un-dead, saccharine monster. One such stalwart individual is Pelle Carlberg who has just released the album In A Nutshell on Twenty Seven Records. In a daring move he attacks them on their own territory by writing seemingly innocuous pop songs and then subverting the form with lyrics of wit and intelligence.

Wit and intelligence of course work against ABBA like wooden stakes and garlic do against other legions of the un-dead. While one can be used to hold them at bay, the other puts them out of our misery. That Pelle has been able to cleverly disguise his subterfuge, only makes his hopes for success that much greater.

Catchy tunes, a lilting voice, and choruses so hook laden you could start a fishing fleet, can't quite disguise a slight sardonic quality in the vocals. The opening track "Pamplona" with its strings, sounds for all the world like it could have come from the same factory that manufactured ABBA, until you hear the lyrics. Pelle very carefully reels you in with some fluff only to drop a rock on your head with the last line.