Niki & The Dove

Stockholm’s Niki and the Dove craft shadowy electronic pop that falls somewhere between the Knife’s eerie atmospheres and Robyn’s tuneful hooks. Singer/songwriter Malin Dahlström and keyboardist/guitarist Gustaf Karlöf began working together in February 2010, combining her dark imagery with his fondness for sounds ranging from Stravinsky to Eurovision pop. Previously, Dahlström had worked with a dance troupe and on the solo electronic project disdishdance. The pair’s debut single, DJ, Ease My Mind/Under the Bridges, was released to critical acclaim in August 2010 by Moshi Moshi as part of the U.K. label’s singles club. Later that year Niki and the Dove self-released the Mother Protect single, a more expansive and ambitious take on their sound. Early in 2011 they signed to Sub Pop Records, which released the Fox EP in June. Their acclaimed debut album, Instinct, arrived in Europe in spring 2012 and in the U.S. that summer. The duo began working on a follow-up in 2013, and emerged two years later with the Play It on My Radio single, which hinted at the more nuanced, eclectic direction of 2016′s Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now. ~ Heather Phares